JAMS Major & Senior, Liliana Fannin, shares her experiences with the DNC & RNC

RACINE, WI — This summer, I had the opportunity to work as a news runner intern for CNN at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee and the Democratic National Convention(DNC) in Chicago.

I begin my senior year this week at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a journalism and public relations major. When my professor presented the opportunity with CNN to my class in the spring, I knew it was something I had to do because it would be a great next step in pursuing my journalism career.

Running for CNN

Here are some of my observations about the venue, connections, crowds, and more at each convention while working for CNN.

Getting my steps in each day

One of my main jobs as a runner was to escort guests, talent, and anchors around the grounds of each convention, so I became very familiar with both Fiserv Forum (RNC) and the United Center (DNC).

The layout of Fiserv Forum for the convention was compact and felt more intuitive, so finding my way around was easier. The building itself is newer, built in 2016, and the hallways around the seating area are bright because of all the windows.

Inside the venue was decked out for the convention with the Republican logo and photos of Donald Trump and popular Republican slogans everywhere you turned.

The United Center is a much older and bigger building, built in 1994. The interior is also much darker because it lacks natural light except at the entrances/exits.

It took me a bit longer to learn the layout, and the key places I needed to be were much more spread out. I got around 15,000 to 20,000 in a day working for CNN at the DNC!

Unlike the RNC, there were not as many photos of the Democratic logo or Kamala Harris around the venue. Because of the low ceilings in the hallway and where CNN was located plus the United Center being older, the DNC felt slightly less organized and a bit more jumbled for me than the RNC.

Energy and crowds

As I was logging all those steps as part of my job with CNN at the conventions, I noted Delegates, staff, volunteers and media professionals all seemed to be equally as excited to attend both the RNC and the DNC. If you see clips from the RNC and the DNC, it is obvious the delegates were all enthused to represent their state for the party they support and elect their candidate for president.

I definitely feel like it’s a tie about the energy represented by crowds.

Diversity

One difference I did notice about the crowds at each convention centered around diversity.

While the RNC did have some diversity in age and race, the delegates and the individuals I could see in the general admission seats were mainly middle-aged white men and women.

The DNC had a wider range of race, age and gender representation. Gender neutral bathrooms were also provided at the United Center.

Media presence

As one can imagine, there was an insane number of media professionals at both the RNC and the DNC. In addition to CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and a host of foreign correspondents were present as well.

I was, indeed, internally fangirling at all of the famous journalists I saw around the conventions.

At the RNC, all media staff were provided with yellow lanyards to wear with their credentials. This was helpful at times because there were specific entrances and elevators designated for media staff, and you needed a yellow lanyard to use them.

Everyone else present had a different colored lanyard so it was obvious if you were a media worker or not.

At the DNC, this was not the case. There was no specific lanyard for media workers to stick out, and everyone blended in together. Some people had blue DNC lanyards but most had a simple black lanyard.

The only badge uniformity were the bright yellow media badges issued by the Secret Service at both conventions. But, because those badges were often behind the other badges media had to wear, it wasn’t as easy to identify media at the DNC as it was at the RNC.

Protests

I live in Milwaukee, and during the time leading up to the RNC I noticed flyers around town near campus and on social media posts about a, “March the RNC” protest. It took place on the first day of the convention.

Thousands of people showed up in Milwaukee largely to show their support for abortion and immigrant rights and to end the war in Gaza. Many protesters held signs that stated, “Stop Trump and racist Republicans,” “Stand with Palestine,” and, “We can no longer afford the rich.” As I was inside the barricade of the convention working, I could also hear protesters chanting “F*** Trump.”

Thousands of protesters alson gathered in Chicago to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. The group marched to the United Center, most of them peacefully, but a few dozen split off and tore down a piece of the security fence. They were detained by the police.

Inside the convention, I noticed some people wearing keffiyehs in support of Palestine. At times, there would be a group of them gathered together inside the barricades.

Impact on host cities 

Fiserv Forum is located in downtown Milwaukee near lots of restaurants, businesses, and apartment buildings. The feeling I and many others got leading up to the RNC was that it was going to be great for business. Some bars in the area even extended their closing times to 4 a.m.

This was not the case. As I walked to my car every night after my shift, I could see that restaurants and bars were empty, and the streets were quiet. I even heard that many locals decided to go on vacation or visit relatives during the convention so they did not have to deal with all of the street closures.

Chicago is a much bigger city than Milwaukee, and the United Center is located near the west side of Chicago away from downtown and many businesses. As a result, I don’t think it had much of an impact on the regular day-to-day life in Chicago.

Final thoughts

Overall, I had a great experience working both of the conventions for CNN. Politics is and always will be a huge part of journalism.

Getting my foot in the door at these conventions provided me with the opportunity to meet and connect with many accomplished politicians and journalists. It was an honor to witness these historical events and learn how a national news source operates.