Actor and radio host Astin emphasizes preparation and research for public discourse

Actor and radio host Sean Astin underlined the importance of research and preparation as he described his experience of public discourse at the National Press Club Oct. 27.

His celebrity, he said, has “bought a seat at the influencers table. And I may not be able to win a hand, but I’m going to sit down and play because…it’s my God-given, natural and constitutionally-protected right to try.”

The film and television star played that proverbial hand in 2012 by founding a radio show, Vox Populi. The show is a weekly discussion of politics and current events that Astin hosts and sees as a refuge from the partisanship plaguing public debate.

Playing radio host has given him an appreciation of the craft. “Sitting thinking about addressing the Press Club…I kept coming back to the fact that it’s probably pretty lonely a lot of the time doing the job of a journalist,” he said. “It was, even though I had a team of people around [me] because there’s a scary moment before you start, before you do your thing, that…no one can help you.”

The self-described “C-SPAN junkie” also expressed concern for the state of journalism, citing many an ill-prepared interviewer with whom he has spoken. He has been on the other side of questions often enough to recognize, and feel slighted by, those who don’t take their craft seriously, he said.

Astin, 43, said he prides himself on putting together a well-researched and substantive radio show. An example he cited was in May, a few days after a young man fatally shot and stabbed six people near the University of California, Santa Barbara. In an episode covering the killings, "Vox Populi" hosted two friends of a woman slain in the spree. Astin also interviewed the former Los Angeles police chief on gun violence, and Rep. Adam Schiff,D-Calif., on possible legislative remedies to the problem. It all amounted to a poignant and incisive show, Astin said.

“I was pretty proud to have done all the legwork and worked hard to create a team and build a show, and have it turn out to produce a show like that,” he said.

It may not have been for any piece of reporting but for his enthusiasm for the Press Club and its mission that Astin was offered an application to join soon after his remarks. He eagerly filled out the paperwork.

The Young Members Committee sponsored the event.