Future journalists and politicians from around the state received several viewpoints on the relationship between media and politics from prominent speakers Wednesday in a panel discussion at Catt Hall.

Titled “Journalists are from Venus; Politicians are from Mars,” the panel consisted of Lt. Governor Joy Corning; KCCI-TV anchor Kevin Cooney; Representative Betty Grundberg, R-Des Moines; Christie Bell Vilsack, journalist and wife of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Vilsack; and David Martin, reporter for City View newspaper in Des Moines. Barbara Mack, Iowa State journalism professor, was moderator for the panel.

The two-hour discussion was witnessed by a group of high school students as part of a four-day workshop.

Grundberg said some myths surround the relationship between media and politics.

“Media is viewed as totally objective, and politics as totally subjective,” she said. “Neither is true.”

Grundberg said she felt the media have shaped today’s society and helped form political agendas.

Vilsack said her political and journalistic careers have been linked throughout the years.

“The lines blur a little bit for me between journalism and politics,” she said.

Martin spoke from a purely journalistic standpoint.

“The issue of objectivity in journalism is pretty much a failed concept,” he said. “I preach fairness — I pick stories that are relevant, important and should be told.”

He said some politicians accuse journalists of telling a story incorrectly, but that politicians twist facts, too.

“People talk about us [journalists] spinning things,” Martin said. “It goes both ways.”

Cooney said he agreed with Martin that objectivity is a joke.

“We [journalists] can’t be objective in the purest sense of the word,” he said. “Television has to respond to what the viewers want.”

He said the younger viewers are the ones who are determining what is on television.

Cooney countered Vilsack’s view that journalists should conduct interviews one-on-one in the subject’s element.

“[Journalists and politicians] aren’t supposed to get along … We aren’t supposed to be friends,” he said. “That’s what makes it so good.”

He said journalists and politicians can’t be on the same side of the fence because fairness and objectivity of both parties would fall by the wayside.

Mack emphasized how important it is for the high school generation to get involved now by keeping up with the news and knowing about politics.

“You [students] truly are interested in what the state’s going to be like in the future,” she said. “You need to be consumers of the government and consumers of news in the same way you’re consumers of everything else.”

Mack said ISU students could be running the town of Ames if they would go to the polls and vote.

The subject of objectivity evoked much of the discussion.

“Any time you discuss the word ‘objectivity’ or see it anywhere, I would insert the word fairness,” Martin said.

“Having objectivity is something to strive for with the realization you will never be perfectly objective,” Cooney said.

“It’s an MTV mentality out there, and we can’t keep our attention any longer than 90 seconds,” he said.

Martin said he felt the youth sitting before him were not to blame for that phenomenon.

“I blame the media and the politicians more than you for being disenfranchised,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair to always blame the consumer.”

Corning said she hopes the workshop will help the aspiring journalists and politicians who participated.

“I encourage the young people here today to read more and become critical viewers and readers,” she said. “I hope that they are persons of integrity and character and interested in being involved in the political process.”

The students said they felt the workshop was a valuable learning experience.

“I got an expanded viewpoint,” said Michael Halloran, high school junior from Gilbert.

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center, helped organize the workshop.

“Media and politics are a very relevant topic to today’s young people,” she said. “We live in such a media age.”

The panel discussion was sponsored by the Catt Center.