Photo By Ruthie Tomuta

A panel of Chicago reporters made waves amongst audience members Tuesday night at Loyola University Chicago while discussing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first days in office.

Phil Ponce, host of WTTW’s Chicago Tonight and a professor of journalism at Loyola, moderated Rating Rahm: The Media Assesses Mayor Emanuel, a forum held in Kasbeer Hall at Loyola’s Water Tower campus.

Other media experts on the panel were Carol Marin, a reporter at NBC 5 and Chicago Tonight; Charles Thomas, a political reporter at ABC 7; Kristen Mack, the Chicago Tribune’s City Hall reporter; Laura Washington, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times; and Mick Dumke, who covers City Hall for the Chicago Reader.

Though expected to discuss the mayor’s progress with Chicago’s budget deficit, public schools, layoffs and crime, Ponce opened the forum by asking panelists to recite an encounter they have had with Emanuel.

Washington recounted a time she came across Emanuel, currently a congressman in Washington D.C., at a local Starbucks.

“Rahm walks in with his kids in tow, the car is double parked outside with the engine running, and he begins to tell me about some legislation he’s working on,” she said. “He’s doing this, ordering his drink, keeping his kids in line and is watching his car. He was still out in five minutes.”

The discussion of Emanuel’s personality continued as the panelists commented on the mayor’s dealings with Chicago’s Public Schools.

Mack expressed that Emanuel has aimed at lengthening the school day in the wrong manner.

“He’s focused on the end goal and is not as concerned as how you get there, as long as you’re getting the longer school day,” she said. “There needs to be more focus on what the curriculum looks like and creating a uniform system across the school.”

Thomas said Emanuel’s previous role in Congress as one who is set on his goals.

“He was regarded in Washington in the House as the man,” he said. “Pelosi was the Speaker, and Rahm was the man who got it done.”

Having firsthand experience with the mayor, several panelists agreed with Thomas and asserted that one way in which Emanuel does this is by trying to control his portrayal in the media.

Thomas responded by communicating that it is crucial for the media to write for the public, and not the government.

“The media sets the agenda. We are a conduit to the people. This is what we want from our government, we tell you mayor, and you respond,” he said.

“That dynamic is being lost on people like Rahm Emanuel. He believes he sets the agenda.”

At the end of the panelist’s discussion, Ponce took questions from the crowd of approximately 150.

Nan Magill, a Chicago retiree who lives at The Clare, instigated a light argument with Thomas when she expressed her fear that the media is biased if only journalists choose on which stories are reported.

Thomas defended his right to choose the agenda because he’s “spent all his life studying it.”

Dumke explained that all journalists report with skepticism.

“You have to have a B.S.-meter to cover politics in the city,” he stated. “You make a number of choices every day and you use your own judgment.”

After the forum, Magill commented on her disagreement with Thomas.

“I’m losing faith in the media,” she stated. “I just want the truth.”

Another resident from The Clare, Elizabeth Grady, 75, expressed her discontent with the night’s discussion.

“I didn’t hear many positives about Emanuel,” she stated. “I expected more pros and cons being presented.”

Despite these comments, Ponce stated after the show that he was pleased with the conversation he and his panelists conducted.

“This may have been my best panel yet,” he said. “These reporters have an inside look at the industry and they emphasized the importance to serve readers so that news goes beyond what the mayor wants to present.”