Thousand Oaks

CNN's Cooper speaks in Thousand Oaks

By Michele Willer-Allred Correspondent
Originally published 12:01 a.m., February 17, 2009
Updated 12:21 p.m., February 16, 2009

CNN television newsman Anderson Cooper, speaking Sunday night in Thousand Oaks, said he didn’t set out to be a news anchor and his early travels around the world as a foreign war correspondent were an opportunity to bear witness to the plight of otherwise forgotten people.

The award-winning journalist’s appearance was part of the Distinguished Speaker Series, which brings newsmakers and national personalities to the city’s Civic Arts Plaza.

Cooper, host of the CNN nightly news show “Anderson Cooper 360,” talked about his career from his beginnings as a war correspondent to his interview this month with President Barack Obama in the White House.

He was introduced to the audience by Marc Cohen, a radio talk show host at KTRB 860 AM in San Francisco.

“(Cooper) is one of America’s most respected journalists, and it’s nearly impossible to find a single person in America who doesn’t like this guy,” said Cohen, who also is a managing director and senior vice president at Wachovia Securities in Westlake Village.

Cooper won an Emmy Award for his coverage of Princess Diana’s funeral and a National Headliners Award for his tsunami coverage. Before joining CNN in 2001, he was an ABC News correspondent and was chief international correspondent for Channel One News.

Sometimes witty, sometimes serious, the 41-year-old Cooper discussed how he became a journalist after not knowing what he wanted to do with his life after graduating from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

“I went to school in the late ‘80s and I focused all my studies on the Soviet Union and communism, so in 1988 when the wall came down, I was totally screwed,” said Cooper with a laugh.

After a post-high-school, life-changing trip to Africa, he knew whatever he was going to do would have to involve travel, and decided becoming a foreign war correspondent fit the bill.

But, he said, he was turned down for jobs. So he decided to travel to the most dangerous war zones, figuring he would have less competition there and he could sell his stories more easily.

“So I made a fake press pass and borrowed a video camera and I started going to wars by myself. I know it was moronic and idiotic and my mom was not thrilled,” said Cooper, whose mother is designer Gloria Vanderbilt.

Through his career, Cooper covered the Rwandan genocide, the national revolution in Burma, the human rights violations against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the wars in Baghdad, Iraq, and Afghanistan, among others.

He said a 1992 trip to Somalia during the early stages of a famine that gripped the African nation changed his life.

“It was in Somalia that I found my calling. I knew that I couldn’t stop starvation, stop the war, or stop people from dying, but I could bear witness to their struggles. I could give testimony to their lives,” said Cooper.

Covering the Hurricane Katrina disaster had a lasting effect on him, he said.

“I’ve seen a lot overseas, and to see that in the United States, to see the lack of response, to see a family drown in their own living room is something I never anticipated seeing,” said Cooper.

Cooper interviewed President Obama in early February.

“It was my first time in the Oval office and I have to say it was a bit surreal to walk in there and see the president of the United States waiting to talk to you,” said Cooper.

Cooper said he’s not interested in slanting his news show for ratings.

“As a newscaster, I believe in facts, not opinions. I know it’s popular in cable news these days for the anchors to wear their opinions on their sleeve and shout it out at the top of their lungs,” he said. “I think viewers want facts and information — and, offered that, I think they’re smart enough to make up their own minds.”