Under the tutelage of veteran political reporter Charlotte Grimes, Knight Chair in Political Reporting at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, a group of Newhouse students is reporting on Syracuse politics and filing their stories with the school’s news-based website, Democracywise.
Recent topics have included Syracuse mayoral candidates; voting by absentee ballot; election inspectors; registering to vote; and a series of pieces on “Voters’ Voices ’09,” which provides an overview of the local political sentiment going into election season.
“This is real-world experience for the students and their work will enrich political coverage for our elections,” says Grimes. “Democracywise is also meant to be one-stopping shopping for the public to learn about candidates, races and issues.”
An experimental website intended to help people engage in politics and public affairs, Democracywise offers basic knowledge and information—from stories about candidates and issues to a democracy toolkit on the nuts and bolts of registering to vote.
Students reporting for Democracywise this year include Brian Amaral, Abram Brown, Lynette Chen, Steve Doane, Shardé Edwards, Brett LoGiurato, Silvia Milanova, Michelle San Miguel, Dan Scorpio, Jessica Shaw, Chris Shepherd and Julia Terruso.
Liam Migdail-Smith, who reported for Democracywise in spring 2008, maintains and updates the site’s Races & Candidates section, the political calendar and the democracy toolkit, including a growing dictionary of political and government terms.
Grimes spent 20 years as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, including 12 years with its Washington bureau. She covered the Democratic national conventions of 1984 and 1988, and the Republican national conventions of 1992 and 1996; the Missouri and Southern Illinois congressional delegations; the politics and policy of health care and international trade; the U.S. invasion of Panama; and the United Nations during the first Persian Gulf War, among other stories.
For more information about Democracywise, contact Grimes at (315) 443-2366 or cgrimes@syr.edu.
Fourteen student-athletes will experience Washington, D.C., next week as part of a new Maymester program hosted by the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship (IDJC). The one-week program, Democracy Playbook: DC Media and Civics Immersion for Student-Athletes, will…
A new collaboration with Advance Local will provide Newhouse School journalism students opportunities to write and report on investigative projects with local impact for newsrooms across the country. The David Newhouse Investigative Reporting Fellowship program, which launched this year in…
Lauren Woodard, assistant professor of anthropology, has received the Spring 2025 Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) First Book Subvention for her upcoming book on Russia’s migration policies on the Russia-China border. Woodard’s book is titled “Ambiguous…
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs has earned the No. 1 overall spot in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Public Affairs Schools rankings. This year’s top ranking follows Maxwell’s yearlong celebration of its founding 100…
Over the last decade, Richard Alexander L’82 has navigated his chosen profession (the law) and his chosen passion (Syracuse University and its law school) through incredibly challenging waters. As partner, managing partner and chair of one of the nation’s most…
If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.
