UNIVERSITY — With the backdrop of this year’s dominant social-media presidential campaign, panelists at a Mississippi Today conversation encouraged their audience to thoroughly research the candidates. Former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw said, “The party structure doesn’t have nearly the clampon the party or the candidates that it once had.” “People in 2016 must be informed consumers, and informed voters.” Brokaw stated that voters need to be able to sort through all the information they can find online and offline and decide for themselves which sources are reliable to provide the best information. Mississippi Today sponsored the event in partnership with the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics, University of Mississippi. The event featured Brokaw and former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour as well as former Tennessee congressman Harold Ford and NBC News chairman Andrew Lack. They provided insight into presidential politics and answered questions from about 400 people at the Nutt Auditorium. Maggie Wade, WLBT’s anchor, was the moderator of the event. She asked questions about the impact of social networking on the presidential election, the media’s pressure on candidates on important issues, and why this election is being called one of the most wild in American history. Mississippi Today founder, Lack, spoke out about the role of social networks in the 2016 election. Lack stated that this was the “social media election going in”. “If you’re in media, getting that unfiltered Donald Trump tweets, often first thing in morning… we haven’t seen anything similar and will not again,” Ford said about the way presidential politics should be run. Ford suggested that candidates should not focus their campaign efforts on attacking other candidates. Instead, they should show that they are open to working with people on the other side of the aisle. Ford stated that in order to achieve results, candidates must not only learn to work together but also learn to listen to one another. “Public policy work does not have to be about liking someone. It’s about working together.” Barbour, a Mississippi Today donor who was chairman of the Republican National Committee, and served as an aide under former President Ronald Reagan, joked about his time in Mississippi and his experience working in national politics. Barbour stated that the nominating process had become so bizarre they had to give it a new name: electile dysfunction. This was met with laughter and cheers from the audience. Many students raised concerns about the viability and ability of third-party candidates, as well as the attempt by Sen. Bernie Sanders against the Democratic Party’s efforts to pick former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the presidency. Barbour reminded students that third-party candidates cannot win an election in the current political system. However, they can influence the outcome of an election and throw it to one of two major parties. Ford suggested that open primaries could be beneficial for the presidential election process, with the top two candidates regardless of their party advancing to final vote, in the California model of open primaries. He suggested that such an approach could open the door for other candidates. Although panelists could not predict the outcome of the 2016 presidential campaign, most agreed that it was still far from over and it was difficult to predict the future. They said that candidates will need to be able to respond to the American people’s needs in the final weeks of the campaign. Barbour warned that candidates with such low negative opinions — the highest combined negatives for any presidential candidate since formal polling began – voters will hear more from the Clinton camp and the Trump camp in the final weeks of the campaign about Trump’s shortcomings. This is in contrast to a detailed discussion on the issues. Ford advised a student on how to pick a candidate to vote for, even though they were both poor candidates. Brokaw stated that the “defining issue of our times is how to deal ISIS.” The outcome of the debate will be determined by what happens in the next three weeks. “This is a crucial time in America’s political culture. After Wade asked questions, the panelists spent approximately 40 minutes with Wade. Then the floor was open to Ole Miss students. The moderators were asked a variety of questions, including what regional and global problems might arise in the next months and what lessons can be learned from a state like Mississippi. A star-studded lineup of Mississippi politicians attended the event. U.S. U.S. Gray Tollison and Hob Bryan were also present. Jeffrey Vitter, Ole Miss’s Chancellor, welcomed the audience. Curtis Wilkie (an Overby Center fellow) introduced the panel. 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