ARIZONA'S IMAGE: DO POLITICS, EVENTS DRIVE IT?

posted by Michael Chihak

Friday's debut program of Arizona Week will take a look at how recent news events and political developments may be shaping Arizona's image as a state.

The program will include interviews with Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce and Arizona House Speaker Kirk Adams and commentary and analysis by two journalists, Arizona Republic columnist Robert Robb, via satellite from Phoenix, and Arizona Public Media online producer Gisela Telis, joining us in Studio A.

Arizona has been in the national spotlight on an almost ongoing basis of the recent past for a series of political decisions, precedent-setting court cases and culminating in last week's tragic shooting rampage in Tucson.

Other issues that have called attention to Arizona: passage of SB1070 last year by the Arizona Legislature requiring local officers of the law to enforce immigration laws; a court decision that the state's voter-approved Clean Elections system is unconstitutional; a court challenge to the state's tax-credit program for private schools; introduction earlier this month of proposed legislation to challenge the precedent that the 14th Amendment grants automatic citizenship to those born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally.

MORE CIVILITY ON ITS WAY IN ARIZONA POLITICS?

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona House Speaker Kirk Adams opened his chamber's legislative session with words of conciliation, condolence and healing.

He praised U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, honored those who died and condemned the heinous act as one that was meant to "incite terror in the hearts of Arizonans and all Americans."

He also called for a more civil tone among his colleagues.

"For me, it is a cold reminder that ... second chances to seek forgiveness and repair relationships sometimes never come," Adams said. "That the defining difference between civil society and anarchy is the ability to respect and value those with whom we disagree.

"It is my prayer that this lesson re-learned will be evident in the communications of this body and in our society."

CHANGE OF PLANS: STATE BUDGET DISCUSSION CAN WAIT

posted by Michael Chihak

We are stepping back from original plans for Arizona Week's debut program on Friday. We will reserve exploring the issue of the state budget deficit for a program in the near future.

Instead, Friday's program will focus on the aftermath of the tragic shootings two days ago in which six people were killed and 14 injured, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

We are exploring a number of options for the program, and likely we will spend at least a couple more days listening to and learning from the public discourse as it continues unfolding. Then we will begin setting in place the topics we will cover and the guests we will invite for interviews.

Readers of this blog and viewers of Arizona Public Media are invited to send thoughts and ideas, via comments on this blog or e-mails to me, mchihak@azpm.org.

A FACE FOR RADIO; A VOICE FOR PRINT

posted by Michael Chihak

When it comes to broadcasting, I can find NPR on the car radio and have almost mastered the TV remote control, fully capable of setting it to digitally record and eventually play back a wide range of programs. Those skills were the extent of my broadcasting experience, until very recently.

"We can teach you the broadcasting part," Arizona Public Media News Director Peter Michaels said in our early discussions about my taking on the Arizona Week gig.

Indeed, the teaching and subsequent learning are big, big parts of it, all designed to bring good journalism to the fore.

Each day, I spend considerable time in front of the camera and lights practicing being natural as I read my scripts on the Teleprompter. Each day, a patient studio crew critiques, coaches and encourages me en route to the program's debut on Jan. 14.

Today, we added a new element. I spent nearly an hour in a closed-loop radio booth wearing a headset that allowed me to hear my voice the way others hear it. I worked to replace my monotone with inflection and the somewhat leisurely cadence of my speech with something approaching the subtly urgent tone that newscasters have. I read the script over and over, until my voice was on the edge of hoarseness.

All the practice has as its goal my ability to put my best face and voice forward when we go on the air a week from Friday.

GOOD FOR US: NEWS HAPPENS ON ITS OWN TIME

posted by Michael Chihak

We have been planning the first Arizona Week program for a good while, lining up interviews, journalistic expertise and a myriad other details. From Day 1, the program's topic was signed and sealed as the state budget crisis.

That's a no brainer, because with the program debuting Jan. 14, we knew we would have a week's worth of developments, starting on Monday with Gov. Jan Brewer's State of the State speech and the convening of the Legislature. Later in the week -- perhaps Wednesday or Thursday -- the governor would release her budget proposal, including plans for dealing with $2.25 billion in deficits spread over the next 18 months.

Lo and behold, the governor's office has announced that the budget proposal will be released on Friday, Jan. 14, the day of our first program. To have that kind of news for our debut program seems kismet, and we plan to make the most of it.

Look for in-depth reporting on the budget, followed by reactions of legislative leaders and finally the analysis of knowledgeable journalists.

It ought to be an auspicious start to Arizona Week.

VIEWER COMMENTS WILL BE AIRED ON AZ WEEK

posted by Michael Chihak

Each Friday night edition of Arizona Week will conclude with the reading of selected comments from viewers. We will air what you have to say that is relevant to the topic at hand.

Comments will be taken from among those we receive over the course of the week between editions. We want criticism as well as compliments, and we will plan to proportion what we air based on overall numbers. For example, if a given program or topic receives six comments, with four critical and two complimentary, we likely will air two critical comments and one complimentary.

Like the letters to the editor section of newspaper editorial pages, our airing of viewer comments will serve as an added forum for discussion of the important topics we plan to cover. And, at times, the comments may become fodder for conversation in this blog.

Keep your comments on topic, and make them civil and suitable for television. Please sign your name, although not doing so won't necessarily preclude the airing of a relevant comment.

E-mail comments to me at mchihak@azpm.org or go to www.azpm.org and click "about" in the gray bar, then click "contact."