Public relations students and advisers met newsman Bob Schieffer while visiting the set of CBS Face the Nation in Washington, D.C.
The four students and two advisers were attending the PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) national conference when they had the chance to visit the newsroom Oct. 17.
Linda Peek Schacht, Lipscomb professor and Washington insider, provided them the opportunity to meet her friend Bob Schieffer. The PRSSA officers were greeted warmly by producers and then received a studio tour.
Hunter Moss, as Lipscomb University PRSSA chapter president, presented Schieffer with an autographed Hatch show print from last spring’s Music from the Mountain concert, the Lipscomb event that honored musical legend Mother Maybelle Carter.
One of Schieffer’s hobbies is playing the guitar and listening to folk music, and Mother Maybelle, the late matriarch of the Carter Family, revolutionized the way a guitar is played.
“I’m thankful for [Schacht’s] friendship and this Hatch print from Lipscomb University, ” Schieffer said. “These artists are my musical heroes.”
Hatch prints, are done the old-fashioned way, an artform still kept alive in their lower Broadway printshop, which is affiliated with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
As the program began in the studio, the students sat in the control room. The show’s guests included former head of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Republican strategist Liz Cheney — daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney — and Bill Galston, former adviser to President Clinton.
Students experienced a heated debate between the outspoken duo of Dean and Cheney, who argued over campaign contributions.
After the show, Schieffer invited the students into the studio to discuss the show’s history and relevance.
Face the Nation is the second longest-running news program in the history of television, having premiered on CBS on Nov. 7, 1954.
Guests include government leaders, politicians, and international figures in the news. CBS News correspondents engage the guests in a lively roundtable discussion focusing on the week’s hot news topics.
“I treasure the opportunity to have met a broadcast legend and watch the production of a show from beginning to end,” said Kathryn-Claire Watts, a public relations major who traveled to D.C. “Mr. Schieffer gave great insight into the relationship between broadcasting and public relations.”