The candidates were not the only familiar faces on TV during last week’s election coverage. Sacramento State’s own Steve Swatt provided insight and commentary both before and during the election results.

Before any ballots were cast, Swatt served as a panelist on KCRA’s “Ad Watch.” The news segment consisted of three Sac State professors who dissected the messages and uncovered untruths in television commercials for propositions like 71 and 66.

Election night, students saw Swatt providing commentary on the presidential election and providing information about local candidates.

His commentary included information about candidates.

One, a Republican assembly candidate from Southern California, Swatt said, “lived with a girl when she was 16 and later had his child, all while he was married.”

It is his familiarity with California’s political issues that allows Swatt to report sometimes hilarious scandals without cracking a smile while students are at home yelling, “Did you hear what he just said?” at the TV.

Swatt grew up in Los Angeles and returned there after receiving his bachelor degree in business administration and masters in journalism from University of California, Berkley.

At Berkley, Swatt served as sports editor for the school newspaper and wrote for the San Francisco Examiner. Upon return to Los Angeles, Swatt wrote general news stories for United Press International but craved to be assigned a political beat.

The drive to cover political news brought Swatt to Sacramento, where he arrived jobless and motivated. Swatt quickly received an interview at KCRA, Sacramento’s NBC affiliate, and landed his first gig reporting for television news.

KCRA eventually let Swatt cover all things political and he continued to do so for the next 23 years.

Swatt, now a senior counselor for the political communications arm of Porter Novelli, is also a professor at Sac State. Sac State’s communication and journalism students have been benefiting from the chance to work with a true professional.

Swatt calls politics his “first love” and enjoys teaching political communication (coms 160) because “so much of it is about how journalists go with politics.” Swatt also enjoys teaching because it keeps him up to date with political trends and issues.

Students in Swatt’s classes enjoy his real-world approach to teaching. He often brings in professional guest speakers and examples from his own work. During the 2003 recall election, Swatt arranged for his class to watch the debates on campus and invited KCRA reporters to interview his students on their post-debate thoughts.

Swatt maintains a relationship with KCRA and has been part of its election night broadcast every year since his departure from the station. He blames the trends in television news that have reporters drifting from real news coverage to what he calls “flash trash” and “celebrity worship” for his departure. For 23 years, Swatt worked on either Thanksgiving or Christmas, a hectic schedule that had him yearning for more stable work hours.

Although his schedule was grueling and his vision of news did not always align with the station managers, Swatt called reporting for KCRA a “great job” and has “no complaints.”

In his career, he reported from presidential conventions, the Iowa caucus and presidential debates in Washington, D.C. In addition, Swatt covered California’s governors, State Legislature and all major propositions.

He enjoyed participating in KCRA’s ad watch with other faculty members Barbra O’Connor and Bob Waste. Swatt feels it is important to uncover truths about campaign ads because he recognizes that “so many people rely almost solely on TV ads for their info.”

Swatt wants his students to think for themselves and not just regurgitate information from the book. Swatt said his students are more likely to receive an A in his classes if they can back up their answers and demonstrate exceptional writing skills.

He offers two pieces of advice for those ready to graduate and enter the professional world. First, “be the best writer you can be” and second, “stick with it and don’t get discouraged if you don’t get the first job you go after.”

Swatt currently teaches strategic issues management for the communication studies department.