Semester in Washington Intern Blog
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Sara Ganim, reporter at the Harrisburg Patriot-News, speaks Tuesday about how she discovered the sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State assistant football coach, at the National Press Club. Rick Dunham, of the Houston Chronicle, led the discussion. SHFWire photo by Jessica SabbahBy Jessica Sabbah
I got the opportunity Tuesday to hear the reporter who unraveled the scandal that surrounded the allegations against Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State assistant football coach.
The event, “Getting the Story: Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg Patriot-News on Covering the Penn State Story,” was held at the National Press Club.
The two things that I took away from the discussion are the importance of the fundamentals of journalism and using new tools to your advantage.
Ganim, 24, a Penn State grad, said she got her first tip about the scandal from a source after getting in the habit of asking at the end of conversations a simple question: “Is anything else going on?”
This isn’t going to result in a story every day, but a question like this can be quite powerful in building a relationship with your sources.
Months later, she said, the source contacted her and said there was no story.
But when she attended a Second Mile charity event and noticed that the founder, Sandusky, wasn’t there, her suspicions were aroused. She asked around and got conflicting answers about why he wasn’t there. That intuition to ask questions in situations like these goes to the root of what journalism is all about.
From there, she had to do “old-fashion reporting” and dig for the story.
This is a testament to the importance of the basic skills of journalists: interviewing, reporting and writing. With all the different tools available and new ways to tell stories, journalists should never lose sight of what’s important: good journalism.
Ganim was also able to use new tools such as social media and video to her advantage while covering this story.
She used Twitter to break news and video to send quotes back to the office while she was in the field.
No matter what medium you use to get information out there, Ganim had one quote that said it all: “You have to treat everything like it’s next day’s paper or the six o’clock news.”
Click on photo to enlarge or download: While waiting on the president, the energized chatter about the room only emboldened me further to have my "intern" photo taken. Although you can hardly see the podium in the back, it is there - trust me. SHNS photo by Michael CollinsI visited the White House on Thursday to hear President Barack Obama speak about his decision to give waivers to 10 states under the No Child Left Behind law. The waivers allow these states to follow their own educational strategies. Here is a walkthrough of the hour or so I spent on the grounds.
The entry
I felt awkward as I stared through the glass (most likely bulletproof) at the White House guard station. The lady behind the desk looked at me looking at her and said something – I’m not sure what.
I think I assumed that she had asked for my driver’s license as my guide and fellow reporter, Michael Collins, had told me she would. So, I pushed my license into the tray and proceeded to cross my fingers. I was right. The approval to enter slid back across the tray in the form of a small red badge with the word PRESS written in a small white box on the badge.
Entrance achieved! . . . almost. As I ought to have foreseen, there was one final safety precaution – the metal detector. After a moment’s hesitation (not sure why) I proceeded to look awkward as I wrestled off my coat and emptied my pockets into another tray.
The waiting
We made it through security a bit before we needed to line up for the speech, so we took a seat in the press briefing room. It is small and quite blue. The carpet, podium backdrop and even the chairs are all blue. To be honest, I was a bit surprised about how small the room itself is. On TV it looks so much bigger.
Finally, the time had come to move to the East Room where we would be watching the president present. The walk from the press briefing room to the East Room was short, but outside.
Now in the actual room there was, of course, more waiting. In the spare time I asked Michael to snap a quick shot of me before Obama walked in. Everyone in the room was standing and talking with each other, so the picture wasn’t that great, but it gets the point across. I was in the East Room.
The president
Another few minutes of standing around waiting soon ended in complete silence. The time had come for POTUS to walk in. Everyone stared at the podium – presumably waiting on him to rise up from below stage. Instead, he walked through the door on stage left.
As he spoke to the crowd I watched the teleprompter and noted the changes he would make along the way. Rather than using the prompter’s “need” in a couple places he inserted “we’ve got to.” In other places, he addressed specific groups in the audience without the prompter. It was interesting to see how he made the speech his own, even though it was written ahead of time.
He finished with some commendations to school superintendants and state education officials in the audience and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who was standing next to him. With a final thank you, he was gone. In and out.
All in all the speech took about 10 minutes, but who was paying attention to the time.
Final thought
As this post probably shows, I am still a bit scatterbrained from the entire experience. However, I can say one thing. Regardless of which party you belong to, or even your involvement in the political arena – being in the same room (not the mention the White House) with the president is an absolute thrill.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Intern Brooke Kelly records at Vanderbilt University's book preservation laboratory for a video assignment during the Chips Quinn Scholars spring multimedia training sessions. Photo by Laura GonzalezBy Brooke Kelly
I left the Chips Quinn orientation/multimedia training Friday with a newfound optimism. It might sound cheesy or clichéd, but I really was encouraged. Oftentimes, the only insight I hear about the journalism industry is that it's a very competitive business, print newspapers are dying and people are getting laid off.
What I valued most during my nine days in Nashville, Tenn., with the Chips Quinn staff and scholars was the encouraging atmosphere. One thing I learned from listening to First Amendment Center President Ken Paulson was that, compared to other careers, journalism jobs often are not even making it to the worst-20-careers-to-have-in-a-recession list. I had no idea that some sources were saying architects and construction workers were the hardest hit by the economy.
The other 11 Chips Quinn Scholars and I were encouraged to not "write our own obituaries." Director of Education at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute Val Hoeppner gave us a presentation on just how much the Internet and mobile technology are changing journalism. She told us of various economists' predictions that print newspapers could disappear altogether in a few years, save the smallest and largest papers. With the increasing use of mobile devices, Hoeppner emphasized how important it is for us to learn multimedia skills. In response to our fears that the quality of service is suffering during this electronic shift, she gave us the assurance that quality journalism practices will be online in the future. She reminded us that quality often suffers during times of innovation as people figure out how to use new technology.
In addition to encouragement, the Chips Quinn Scholars Program staff offered greatly appreciated multimedia training, writing critiques and exercises and advice on professionalism.
During the nine days, I met great people. The other interns were fun, smart and nice. Listening to industry pioneers, John Seigenthaler and John Quinn, was a special honor. Becoming a Chipster (not a term I made up) has been great! Hopefully, I will keep the momentum going and do great things in the field.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Sixteen TV crews got reaction interviews after the speech at the Cannon House Office Building. Scripps Howard News Service intern Danielle Cohen, left, and multimedia journalist Kristin Volk go over footage they shot. SHFWire photo by Robin Siteneski.By Robin Siteneski
4:15 p.m.: As we were walking to catch Metro to the Capitol on Tuesday, one of the interns who was going with me to the State of the Union, Salvador Guerrero, remembered an editor’s advice to cover up enthusiasm while reporting on big events: “Act like you’ve been there before.” A tough one to follow – especially in this case. The tickets to the speech were being handed out until 5 p.m.
The room we go in right before getting into the House Press Gallery, on the third floor of the Capitol, is divided into four parts and still has inactive fireplaces and working phone booths that could easily help Clark Kent to turn into Superman. It was already full by the time we got there. With hours to wait, we decided to eat something inside the Capitol complex. It wouldn’t be smart to leave at that point.
5:15 p.m.: We went to the restaurant between the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office Buildings because most of the restaurants were closed elsewhere. My colleagues very appropriately had Senate burgers. As with the other Capitol complex buildings, this one is connected to the Capitol by underground tunnels and trains. A Capitol police officer said we couldn’t enter the Capitol any longer when we were trying to get back at about 6 p.m. My blood pressure went up as if I had just seen Abraham Lincoln’s ghost. The panic attack that would follow was avoided when another officer let us through.
6:30 p.m.: Media elite and mortal interns stood side by side waiting to get into the Press Gallery. Other people who were at the State of the Union for the first time watched the House floor fill up slowly. “It looks much smaller than it does on TV,” they said. I agree.
A Press Gallery employee stepped up on a chair and reviewed the rules – “no phones, no pictures” – and said he had “a very important and exciting video to show you.” The video shows how to use a gas mask. Experienced journalists watched newcomers’ reactions instead of the tape. Everybody laughed at the detailed instructions about how to open the package. I asked the Press Gallery employee if I could bring my camera. Denied. Only a handful of photojournalists can enter the Press Gallery. Some are in a gallery on the other side of the House, and a very few have access to the floor where the President and the members of Congress are.
8:21 p.m.: The first 30 tickets were called. Mine was No. 141. The Press Gallery is above and behind where the president stands. I was on the president’s right hand side. The left was full because first lady Michelle Obama and her guests watched the speech nearby. Among them, Brazilian, Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger. I clapped a little when Mrs. Obama entered. I shouldn’t. Nobody else in the Press Gallery did, except for a few other interns. I remembered Sal’s editor advice at that point.
Senators and the president’s staff entered little by little. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is quite short. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner didn’t shake hands with Republicans sitting in aisle seats. But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shook hands with everyone.
9 p.m.: The president entered a minute or so after the scheduled start time. Copies of the speech were handed out almost immediately. On the first page, a notification in capitalized letters: EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY. I could see Obama’s head as he delivered, without improvising, the State of the Union, mixing the tone of a father telling off his kids, the Congress that refuses to work in a bipartisanism way, and one of a statesman trying to paint a better picture of the country.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: The Scripps Howard camera was set across the rotunda from the main entrance of the Cannon Office Building. As I walked across the rotunda a few times escorting members of Congress to our camera position, I irritated some reporters who were trying to work10:45 p.m.: The hallways were free, but Frank Bumb and I couldn’t use the tunnels to get to the Cannon House Office Building. We were going there to help Scripps Howard News Service multimedia journalist Kristin Volk find members of Congress and record their reactions to the speech for Scripps’ TV stations. Police officers restricted access to the confusing hallways and led us right to the exit. There were 16 TV crews at the Cannon Building. I received a list of 17 senators and representatives. Frank helped me by pointing out which state they were from in a book with their pictures so I could identify them.
Soon people start leaving the Cannon Building. I was able to identify two of the men on the list, a senator and a House member. Kristen ended up getting 12 of the people she needed to interview. I left the Cannon Building about midnight, but not before getting lost again trying to find my way out, a little disappointed at the small workload during the interviews but still high on adrenaline for being at the State of the Union. Metro had closed, so we caught a cab home.
It’s been an exciting week at the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. We attended the State of the Union Tuesday night, and I covered my first two meetings on Capitol Hill.
I’ve been on Capitol Hill before, but entering the Rayburn House Office Building for the first time for the meeting was still nerve-wracking. I almost walked around the security check line. I looked so nervous that a U.S. Capitol police officer, who seemed to sense my nervousness, joked that if the detector beeped when I went through, the building would blow up, and when it didn’t, he said that I had “made it.”
I asked him where 2360 Rayburn was and quickly headed to the meeting.
Between that and trying to lead the group around the Capitol Tuesday night, I learned that, despite how serious their jobs requires them to be, the Capitol police are also extremely helpful with directions.
The two meetings I went to fell somewhere between the limited experience I have from attending a few Senate committee meetings and the fictional image built around movies and TV shows.
The “Beltway bubble” quickly became a topic of discussion during the first meeting. Some of the people at the meeting discussed the disconnect and perceived perception problem between black voters, the Republican Party and black members of Congress. It reminded me how easy it is to fall within the “bubble.”
When I went back to Fort Smith, Ark., after being in D.C. for the summer two years ago, I was initially surprised that everyone didn’t want to talk about health care, the latest estimate from the Office of Management and Budget or Supreme Court nominations.
People back home were concerned with other things – how they were going to pay for their next semester of school or if the Whirlpool plant managers were about to announce another round of layoffs. (As it turns out, they were, and the plant will close this year.) President Barack Obama even indirectly mentioned the “Beltway bubble” in his State of the Union speech when he discussed the divide between Wall Street and Main Street: “The divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad - and it seems to get worse every year.”
Thinking about this reminded me that it is more important than ever for journalists to be able to connect the bigger ideas, themes and legislation that are affecting us at a national level, strip them of the jargon and vague rhetoric and inform those across the country how it will affect them at a local level. During the first week of our internship, a couple of the other interns and I met a journalist who shares the floor with Scripps Howard. He said that because we weren’t from Washington, we had foreigners’ eyes and to keep it that way as we cover events. The longer we’re here, the more I see the importance of his advice.
It’s an election year, so half-formed promises will be handed out like lollipops at a doctor’s office, and it’s our job to keep asking questions, keep digging and stay curious.
Twenty-three minutes into the 1 hour and 4 minute State of the Union address, President Barack Obama spoke about the ongoing issue that surrounds students on college campuses around the nation.
“When kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge can be the cost of college,” Obama said. “At a time when Americans owe more in tuition than credit-card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.”
In the last 20 years, the average cost of tuition and fees at four-year public universities has increased by 136 percent, according to a statement released by the White House. In 2007, the federal government enacted an interest rate reduction that will expire July 1. Without a new law, the rate will jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8.
“Extend the tuition tax credit we started that saves middle-class families thousands of dollars,” he said. “And give more young people the chance to earn their way through college by doubling the number of work-study jobs in the next five years.”
Although the president urged Congress to re-evaluate the growing concern about the cost of college, he also pushed for states and universities to take matters into their own hands.
“We can’t just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of money,” Obama said. “States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down.”
The president warned colleges and universities that if they cannot halt tuition increases, funding from taxpayers will diminish. That is already happening in some states.
Obama called for the resurrection of the DREAM Act, which would give undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. when they were children and are college students or military service members the opportunity to gain citizenship.
“Let’s also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country face another challenge,” he said, “the fact that they aren’t yet American citizens.”
According to the Immigration Policy Center, approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year (out of about 3 million graduates), but many cannot enroll in college, join the military or work. The House, then controlled by Democrats, passed the DREAM Act in December 2010, but the Senate blocked it.
“Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation,” Obama said. “Others came more recently, to study … but as soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else.”
That doesn’t make sense, the president said. Although Obama called for a resurgence of the DREAM Act, he noted that his administration has increased the number of agents along the border, which many say has lowered the number of undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S.
In a statement released after the State of the Union, Obama called for a continuation of border security at the federal level and said it would hold businesses accountable if they hire undocumented workers.
The president ended the segment of the speech with a push for immigration reform that would stop the expulsion of young people who want jobs in the country.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: The SHFWire interns attended the State of the Union address on Tuesday. Numbered tickets were issued for admittance into the House Press Gallery. SHFWire Photo by Jessica SabbahBy Jessica Sabbah
The Scripps Howard Foundation Wire interns and I got the unique opportunity to attend the State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
We had the chance to witness history in the making through the lens of a reporter.
When the six of us arrived at the Capitol about 4:40 p.m., we headed straight for the House Press Gallery to get our “golden tickets” to the big event.
Since we planned to stay once we got there to avoid having to go through even tighter security later, we came anticipating a four-hour wait until the speech. Some of us grabbed dinner in the ground corridor between Dirksen and Hart. (I got an appropriately named Senate burger combo.)
I also packed a book to help pass the time, but I ended up not needed it, considering my surroundings.
The press gallery was bustling with reporters and photographers. It was cool to be part of that atmosphere and to see and meet some of the most respected journalists doing what they do best. There’s something really fun about being surrounded by other journalists for news events like these.
When the time finally came, our tickets got us a spot in the back of the press gallery, behind where the president stood, where I could see the audience but not the president. I stood for the majority of the speech but was able to grab a seat with a view of the president toward the end of his speech.
It was interesting to see how the whole event was organized, including how Michelle Obama sits with specially selected guests in the First Lady’s Box and the order in which senators, House members, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices and other officials enter the chamber.
Although I had already seen President Barack Obama in person for a story I covered in October, it was the first time that I had ever seen Mrs. Obama and several other public figures in person: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz, (who resigned the next day) and Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and John Kerry, D-Mass. The House chamber was packed with the some of the most important people in American politics today.
When the president began his address, it was interesting to see how individuals reacted to different parts of his speech, which issues had a partisan divide and which topics seemed to get unanimous approval from the floor.
I’m extremely thankful that I got the opportunity to attend a State of the Union address. I learned a lot from the experience, and I feel like I’m a better journalist because of it. This was definitely a night to remember.
By Frank Bumb
Click on photo to enlarge or download: The spring 2012 interns collected their press passes at the Capitol Tuesday. From left, Brooke Kelly, Salvador Guerrero, Frank Bumb, Elijah Herington, Jordain Carney and Robin Siteneski. SHFWire photoI’d been to Washington before. My college friends and I visited my sophomore year over Memorial Day Weekend, and the trip brought to the fore what had remained a far afield fantasy: I wanted to be a journalist in Washington.
Fast forward to fall 2011. I had been rejected for a number of internships, as most college students certainly are. I had worked at a variety of media outlets, hoping to cast a wide net and raise my chances to be a journalist in the ever-changing media landscape. It’s the classic “jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none” conundrum.
But then I read my inbox one day: the Scripps Howard Foundation Semester in Washington program was looking for interns. I looked at the application, and right there it said: “multimedia skills are definitely a plus.” And I knew that I had to do everything I could to put together the best possible application for this internship.
I assembled my clips (courtesy of my wonderful time at the Archbold Buckeye. I owe my editor, David Pugh, a huge debt of gratitude) on a variety of stories and video from my time at the WOUB Center for Public Media (ditto Michael Rodriguez and Tom Hodson). After several nerve-wracking weeks of waiting, I had the long awaited email telling me that I had been selected. I was on my way to D.C.!
In D.C. this week I met with my fellow interns and was excited to find that they are all intelligent, skilled and personable. Having a Sunday night meal did little to calm our collective nerves. We were all too excited.
Monday morning we woke bright and early despite fitful sleeping by all. Our journey on Metro confirmed yet another advantage of our internship: A swift, 10-15 minute commute even in the heart of D.C.
Our first day was full of protocol, training and preliminary information. Normally such a meeting would be tedious in the extreme. But when preliminary information includes tidbits like a trip to New York for a conference, the vast freedom that we interns would have in selecting our stories and that we could even attend the State of the Union, tedious is an adjective that doesn’t even enter minds. It certainly didn’t enter mine.
Our second day was a guided tour by our director, Jody Beck. And while many people reading this have been on such tours, few have probably been in groups with access to areas reserved for just the press, while having locations pointed out as being the best for finding the senator you want to talk to.
I’ve been in D.C. for four days, and I’m already scheduled to cover my first story tomorrow morning. The training wheels are off, and I’m expected to go out and get my story on my own. Ditto my fellow interns.
Tomorrow looks to be another exciting day in D.C.
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Koa, a kiwi, walks across canvases during a painting session at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park while her keepers watch. SHFWire photo by Jessica SabbahHow often do you get to see a panda up close, let alone a panda painting up close?
I got that chance last week while working on a multimedia package about animals that paint at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.
It was one of those stories that come along every so often that reminds you how cool it is to be a journalist.
I’m a huge animal lover, so this was a story that I was definitely interested in covering.
I spent more than four hours at the zoo interviewing animal keepers and staff, taking photos and shooting video of different animals painting. I had the chance to sit in on painting sessions with a giant panda named Mei Xiang, a tiger named Guntur, an anteater named Pablo, a kiwi named Koa and naked mole-rats, which do not have names.
Throughout the day, I got to observe keepers working with the painting animals, let an anteater lick peanut butter off my gloved hand and pet a kiwi, the flightless bird native to New Zealand, all while learning about animals and doing my job. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday.
When I arrived for the first painting session and was standing only feet from Mei Xiang, a giant panda who was behind a fence, I was reminded how awesome my job is. Not many people get this type of access and have the opportunity to tell stories like this in their community.
Plus, I was getting paid to do two things that I love: journalism and hanging out with animals.
Journalists cover a variety of stories throughout their careers, including murders, fires, local festivals or government meetings. Sometimes, the subject matter isn’t the most cheery or exciting, but there are stories like this one that are just plain fun.
It seems to me that changes are coming. The opposition protests in Russia are something I really enjoyed over the last week. Even though I’m in Washington, about 5,000 miles away from Moscow, I stuck to my computer, watching the live broadcasts from the rallies and reading tweets and posts on other social networks.
It was really surprising for me because I couldn’t believe that Russian people, finally, took off a coat of dust from themselves and went to protest on the streets.
To my view, the recent protests showed the Russian people are on the way to a civil society. No, it’s not Peter the Great coming to them again to shave off their beards – it is that people started to wake up after they felt cheated. They came out to the streets, as it happened many years ago during the times of the tsars and three socialistic revolutions, to defend their rights and to express their opinions.
The mass media have already started to call the participants of the rallies the new Decembrists.
The first two protest rallies took place in central Moscow after the announcement of the parliamentary election results.
United Russia, the party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, got the majority of seats, 238 out of 450, in the State Duma.
The opposition believes the election was unfair. The government continues to defend the results, despite opposition rallies and growing international criticism.
I think the authorities are shocked. I think they are watching the situation and trying to figure out what to do. For now, they have chosen a tactic of ignorance. Both Putin and Medvedev commented on the situation unwillingly.
Putin blamed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week for “setting a tone” for some Russian activists to begin protests after she expressed concerns about the conduct of the election.
Medvedev, in turn, admitted there were violations, as the Russian “voting machine is not perfect.” He said these violations should be investigated.
The opposition believes the actual result for United Russia was much lower than the official 49 percent.
The preliminary report issued by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe documented numerous violations, including cases of ballot-box stuffing, people casting multiple votes, unlawful evictions of observers and journalists, and rewriting official protocols after the voting was over.
In particular, on the Internet there were numerous videos that showed stuffing ballots and failed attempts of Russian observers to correct problems. (Both are in Russian, but at the end of the video, a mass of ballots is dumped on a table, and people say they are all United Russia ballots.)
Some people reacted angrily to the election results. Some demonstrators carried frank posters, including, “We are not sheep.”
Even though the first rally was authorized, dozens, including opposition leaders, were detained, fined or jailed for 15 days. According to the Russian federal law No. 7, organizers of a protest or any other public activity need permission from the government about the number of protesters and what they can say.
On the second day after the election results were announced, the protests continued. A rally on Triumfalnaya Square in central Moscow drew about 5,000 people, including both opposition and a pro-Kremlin youth group called Nashi.
While Nashi chanted “Russia! Putin! Medvedev!” – during their authorized protest – opposition members answered the pro-Kremlin group’s slogans by saying, “Putin is thief! It’s shame! Give us the elections back!”
Some experts say it was the largest pro-democracy gathering in the Russian capital in more than a decade.
Social media have played a big role in organizing the rallies and informing people about what is going on. Many protesters tweeted about the situation. Some described how they were captured by OMON, the Russian Special Purpose Police Unit, and taken to the police offices across Moscow.
There were live broadcasts from the places where the rallies were held.
The next authorized rally took place Saturday on Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow. This was the best rally I have ever remembered from my life. People presented flowers to police. They had the cutest ever posters in their hands. Some of them showed a sense of humor – two men wore masks of Putin and Mevedev’s faces and held a poster that said: “We decided everything for you.” Other posters said: “There are elections, but there is no choice,” “The power to millions, not to the millionaires,” “Deputies, we haven’t voted for you.”
Some people carried the Constitution of Russia in their hands.
People were not violent. They were organized. Many opposition leaders gave great speeches, including Leonid Parfyonov, a famous Russian TV journalist. He blamed state TV channels for not covering the protests.
The protest wave has also reached other Russian cities, including St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
The opposition seemingly is not going to stop protesting. The next protest is scheduled for Dec. 24. The presidential election is scheduled for March 4.
