Today
on my flight to Spokane Washington I sat beside a CNN reporter (Emmy award winning Victor
Blackwell). I didn’t recognize him, so our
conversation started more general until we got to the “what do you do”
question. It was the most fascinating
conversation I’ve ever had on a plane (the next was the paleobotanist (http://tandtrv.blogspot.com/2012/08/paleobotany-at-30000-feet.html).
We
discussed how Jon Stewart makes fun of CNN.
Victor hadn’t had a specific segment done on him, but had been included
on some montages. I realized that Jon Stewart
is on for 30 minutes four days a week while CNN is on 24 hours 7 days a
week. It’s pretty likely he’s going to
find mistakes during all the time they are reporting. I really like Jon Stewart, but now I know how
dedicated CNN reporters are too.
I
was amazed with the knowledge and professionalism of Victor Blackwell. He’s been working since he was 15 starting on
a radio show! As a reporter, he spends
much of his free time reading so he can keep up with local, national, and
international news plus he reads history to understand the background or
historical parallels to stories. He has
to be ready at any time to travel on a story.
He mentioned that he can’t buy fresh vegetables unless it’s a single
serving since he might need to leave quickly and it would go rotten in the
refrigerator.
Besides
the background knowledge, a reporter has to talk on subjects they don’t really
know about or while information is still coming in. He covered the cruise ship coming into Mobile
(http://tandtrv.blogspot.com/2013/03/on-way-to-conference.html)
that was moving very, very slowly. He
has to have all types of contacts. While he was covering the ship, he was
communicating with people on the ship and people on land while he was in a boat
alongside the cruise ship.
Besides
all of that, reporters have to have thick skins. Yes, Jon Stewart makes fun. Besides all the news knowledge, reporters
have to know what clothes look good for different stories. They also see the tweets from people
complaining about what they are wearing or what their hair looks like or if
they’ve gained weight. They may have
their bosses tell them when to lose weight or to dye their hair. There’s a lot of pressure in looking good
while you’re telling an important story.
We
talked for 1-1/2 hours on this flight and he was friendly and open the entire
time. I’m sorry about being a “Chatty
Cathy”, Victor, but it was all very interesting. I’m now a Victor Blackwell fan!
