University of Wisconsin professors played a vital role in the media coverage of the 2004 presidential elections.

Charles Franklin, a UW political science professor, worked with ABC throughout the primaries, but was most extensively involved with ABC in the week leading up to Election Day.

Franklin worked with a “decision team” assigned to one third of the 50 states. He said he worked throughout the night monitoring voter information as it came in from his assigned states and determined when the team could call the state.

“It was definitely a cautious night compared to 2000,” Franklin said. “We were careful not to call states too early in fear of what happened in the 2000 presidential elections possibly happening again.”

After the 2000 presidential elections, Franklin conducted extensive research in statistical analysis of polls and elections.

Franklin said it was difficult for journalists to draw conclusions from poll data in the days leading up to Election Night.

“One of the problems is that votes come in from different places throughout [Election] Night and we don’t know where within the state the estimates are coming from,” Franklin said, adding the downtown area of Madison and the surrounding countryside may have varying political beliefs.

Franklin, along with other UW professors that worked Election Night, hoped their experiences with media networks helped to educate UW students enrolled in their classes.

“I think the frustration I have as a political scientist is that no one does a good job of explaining this [election process] to people because it is a very technical process and people think the public wouldn’t understand anyway,” Franklin said. “I’ve been trying to teach to my class the process [in order] to bridge that gap and show how this process works, but that it shouldn’t be treated as the absolute truth.”

UW sociology professor G. Donald Ferree collected Wisconsin voters’ perceptions of candidates leading up to the election for the Badger Polls and reported for PBS the night of Nov. 2.

“In the survey methods class that I teach next semester, my experiences will certainly come into play,” Ferree said.

UW political science professor Ken Goldstein also worked with ABC the night of Nov. 2 as supervisor of a decision team.

UW sophomore Brett Watson, who is a former student of Goldstein’s, said he believes the experiences the professor shared with his class were insightful because it gave students an inside look at politics and how the media affects politicians and political parties.

“I think it is always beneficial to students when professors have jobs in other areas of their subject,” Watson said.

He said, however, that many connections to media can be disadvantageous to students.

“I don’t necessarily believe if all professors have connections to the media we would benefit. We need a variety of perspectives,” Watson said.