"The godless ICLU" John Krull, the director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union and former political correspondent for the Indianapolis Star, was a guest of my media management class on Wednesday. Krull is a former colleague of my professor, who worked at the Star and News herself for many years, as a managing editor in the last few years she was there.
Krull spoke primarily about the ICLU's rise of success since he took over the organization in 1998 when it was a bumbling, bankrupt wreck on the verge of being de-listed by the national office. He shared some of the successes he had as a manager, and some of the failures (including not being completely honest with his employees about the sad shape of the group when he first arrived, and not immdiately recognizing the need for an internet presence.)
Of particular interest was how Krull candidly discussed the importance of spinning the press to get more favorable coverage. Things such as issuing a press release, or having a press conference at 4:30 in the afternoon, right before the evening TV news usually goes into production, hoping that the suits will have to run the story, but likely won't have enough time to get an opposing viewpoint. After your opponent got a chance to respond, Krull and co. would spring something else around the midday on the following day to get the last word in again. ("This doesn't work with newspapers, newspapers don't bite on this kind of thing" he said. *snicker* Perhaps the old print/broadcast tension is still in his blood.)
I asked him to consider how he might counter himself if he were still in journalism. He responded by saying that, in a sense, journalists don't have much of an option these days. "It's an overgeneralization to say this, but in the old days, the most important thing in news media was being first and right. Now, there's a schema tha if you're first, being right will work it's way through later," he said. You might feel used as a journalist, but when you run into someone who knows how to play the game, there's not much you can do about it.
About the ICLU he said, "For a while there, it was all Ten Commandments, all the time." Krull mentioned how he purposefully sought out clergy members who supported the ICLU during that battle. "There's a myth about the 'godless ICLU' that we were trying to dispell. The ICLU has never been opposed to private expression of religion, only the government's display of one religion at the exclusion of others."
Hard to argue with that.
11:52:15 PM 
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