Mobbed by Hundreds

Wednesday, APR 22, 2009

CNN's Anderson Cooper Mobbed By NC Students



ELON, NC - CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper proved to be very popular with students at Elon University during a recent visit. Cooper talked about his reporting experiences around the world, the state of the news business, and also gave the students advice on careers in journalism.

Cooper hosts "Anderson Cooper 360," a nightly news show on the CNN news network that appears via cable and satellite television.

Cooper spoke at Elon University in Elon, North Carolina on April 7th and addressed journalism students in the communications department, reporters in a question and answer session, and also a full audience of over 2,400 people in the sold out event in Alumni Gym.

NEWS REPORTER Q&A SESSION

During the question and answer session with news reporters present in the room, when asked who he had admired in broadcasting, Cooper said that he admired Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite, Ted Koppel, and other news anchors from the 1970's and 80's.

"I grew up watching Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid," said Cooper. Along with Edward R. Murrow, Sevareid and Cronkite helped establish a long tradition of journalism and broadcasting at CBS News.

Cooper commented that he thinks that today, with the availability of information through the Internet, that students and members of younger generations have access to an unprecedented amount of information.

"I think young adults today are better educated...than any generation in history," said Cooper. "I think this is a generation that is remarkably well-informed."

On the subject of the increasing amount of commentary on cable news networks, Cooper said that there is an audience for that type of content, but that in the end, it is all based on newsgathering efforts.

"Certainly there is a role for pundits...but you need reporting," said Cooper.

"As a viewer, I'm not interested in watching anchors give their opinion...I think viewers are smart enough to make up their own minds," said Cooper, saying that people often just want the facts.

He added that it's dangerous for television commentators to focus on controversial or outrageous news subjects just because they draw viewers.

"It's a slippery slope to focus on ratings," Cooper said, because in the end you have to keep coming up with items that are "more and more salacious."

"It's kind of like crack," added Cooper, saying that it's both addictive and not good for you.

When asked where newspapers and news media in general are headed in the next few years as Internet-based media seem to be displacing print products and even radio and television, Cooper said he was not sure himself what is in store in the future.

"I don't know where the future lies," said Cooper. "No one knows where this business is going...the audience is increasingly fractured."

Cooper added that media companies have been trying to place their efforts to reach audiences across a broad spectrum of television and Internet properties. For example, Cooper's show has a live blog, a Twitter account, online video, and of course, regular cable television as well as TV specials.

When asked by a student journalist about some advice on entering the news industry, Cooper said that he believed that hard work would carry people a long way.

"Never underestimate the value of working harder than anyone around you," said Cooper.

Cooper added that he felt that he was given the news anchor position in part because he never took a vacation and often filled in for people who did.

"I feel like I got a show because people around me kept taking vacations and I kept filling in for them," joked Cooper.

Cooper summed up his career in journalism by saying that he really enjoyed his job.

"I like learning every day," said Cooper. "It never seems dull. It never seems like work, frankly."

He added that he also appreciated the fact that people tune into his programs and that he serves the audience by providing them with news and information.

"It's a great privilege to be in people's living rooms," said Cooper.

ADDRESSING A LARGE AUDIENCE

After meeting with students in the Elon communications school and members of the media, Cooper later addressed an even larger audience in the Alumni Gym as a sold out crowd of over 2,400 people gathered to hear him speak.

During his speech, Cooper kept the audience laughing and captivated as he discussed both comical anecdotes from the news business and some harrowing experiences that he has seen in his coverage of news across the world, often at the scenes of disasters and warfare.

"I never really set out to be a TV anchor," Cooper said.

Cooper joked that he asked his mother, the well-known fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt, for advice once and she told him to wear vertical stripes to look slimmer.

"She's very talented...but practical, she's not," Cooper joked.

After he attended college, he asked his mother what he should do for a living and this time, she did give him some good advice, saying to "follow his bliss."

Cooper joked that he studied political science in college with a concentration on Soviet Union studies and that once "the Berlin Wall fell, I was totally screwed."

HEADING OVERSEAS

Cooper said he had always been fascinated with war correspondents growing up, so he decided to follow in their footsteps.

His first big trip overseas culiminated in a trip across Africa in a truck. He ditched the conveniences, safety, and comfort of America for the dangerous and unpredictable and the trip obviously made an impression on Cooper. As a result, he longed to repeat the experience of being in challenging situations.

"It was the first time I had to talk my way through a roadblock, the first time I had a gun pointed at me," said Cooper.

His intent was set on becoming a foreign correspondent, but he was unable to obtain a job and had to create his own opportunities.

"Since no one would give me a chance, I would have to take a chance," said Cooper.

Cooper said he had a friend create him a fake press pass and brought a small video camera as he reported on news, sending tapes to networks, as he traveled overseas. He eventually was hired by Channel One, a network that broadcast news to schools across America on closed-circuit networks.

DARKNESS AND LIGHT

In his early years of covering news, Cooper said he went to Burma and Somalia, which were both eye openers in terms of seeing the suffering of other people.

"Until Somalia, I had never seen starvation up close or children dying," said Cooper. "I may have gone to Yale but I really think I was educated in Somalia."

Reporting in war zones has shown Cooper both the depths and heights that humanity can reach.

"In war, you expect to find darkness, but you find light as well," said Cooper. "You find horror, but also humanity."

In South Africa, Cooper said he saw people being killed in the most basic of ways, with machetes.

"There were neighbors killing neighbors," he said. "It was very personal killing."

In Rwanda, Cooper saw the evidence of massive killings.

"[It was] where I realized all of us are capable of anything," he said.

Despite the horrors of war, Cooper said it was important to cover that type of news.

"It's important to bear witness," said Cooper. "It's important that we not run away."

Cooper said that he has tried to report on areas in Africa that have not received enough attention, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire.

"It's become something of an obsession with me," said Cooper. "I find it amazing...five million people have died and no one has paid attention to it."

He said that in the war-torn country, people are being killed in brutal ways including gang rapes which is a "weapon of war in the Congo."

Cooper said that he wanted to continue to report from such areas around the world "to remind you in the hustle and bustle of our lives" that we shouldn't lose track of fellow human beings.

Despite the horrors and dangers -- or perhaps because of them -- working in a war zone is exhilarating, admitted Cooper.

"You're literally on the edge of life," he said, adding that it's often hard to return to a normal life back home after working in a war zone.

THE STATE OF NEWS

Cooper described the United States as a "country increasingly divided" and stated that those divisions have been reflected in how the news is presented.

"People expect the news to have a slant, but that's something that none of us should accept," he said. "The last thing we need is an overpaid, blow-dried anchor telling us how to think."

Cooper acknowledged that people seem to be turning to the news outlets that they agree with.

"When you watch a program and they're agreeing with you, that's the one that's correct," said Cooper. He cautioned though that you need to "put yourself in other people's shoes."

Cooper said that the United States needs to understand the ideas of those who we disagree with as well as our friends in order to survive. Having said that, Cooper also acknowledged that there is "nothing wrong with having a variety of ways a story is told."

Later in his speech, Cooper added that the news business is in a state of flux and rapid change.

"We're in a strange time for news, with newspapers dying," said Cooper who added that newspapers have a "business-model problem" as delivering print newspapers becomes less feasible.

When asked what the future holds for media, Cooper joked that "if I had the answer to that, I would be very employable."

Cooper said that blogs and other online media are great and that CNN has invested in as many "platforms as possible" including Twitter.

"My own company would like nothing more than for me to be tweeting...during the day," said Cooper. He also was very optimistic about "the evolvement of citizen journalists" who will help develop the news.

However, he said those new media outlets also come "with great dangers as well."

"It's more important than ever before to know" where your news comes from, Cooper commented.

THE WAR IN IRAQ

Covering the war in Iraq can be dangerous and Cooper said he remembers being met at the airport by security guards paid for by CNN, as members of the media were not immune to attacks.

As an example, he mentioned the Palestine Hotel where reporters often stayed. The hotel was attacked several times, including once by a bombing that used a truckload of explosives.

Garnering laughter, Cooper related the time he asked how he could protect himself when some attackers were entering hotel rooms and taking foreigners hostage.

Cooper said someone gave him a couple of 2x4 pieces of lumber to barricade his room and that was it.

"You can never forget you are a target," he said, although he cautioned that reporters cannot hide in safe areas all the time and report on the news.

"You can find yourself trapped in this security bubble," said Cooper, adding that sometimes safety can compromise the quality of reporting.

"[It is] critical for reporters to get out on their own as much as possible," said Cooper, who also lamented that increasingly networks are not willing to foot the bill for on-site reporting, which can be expensive.

COVERING WASHINGTON AND POLITICS

"It's fascinating covering politics," said Cooper. "It's also very frustrating."

On his experience in reporting on politicians, Cooper said he did not have much success in getting an interview with President George W. Bush.

"They stopped returning calls after reporting on Hurricane Katrina," joked Cooper.

Reporting live from the hurricane's aftermath in Mississippi and Louisiana, Cooper was critical of politicians who were praising the rescue efforts, while people were dying in the streets.

Cooper did get to interview President Barack Obama shortly after he took office. He said that went he went into the Oval Office at the White House, he discovered that President Obama likes to keep the thermostat turned way up, keeping it very warm.

"You sit in this hothouse steamer," joked Cooper. "It's hot enough to grow orchids."

Cooper said that while he was sweating, Obama did not.

"Politicians do not sweat," joked Cooper, although he did bring up the famous TV debate in which Richard Nixon was sweating while John Kennedy was not.

Cooper said he has had his own troubles during Presidential campaign debates. He once hosted a debate early on during the campaign process when there were still many candidates vying for attention.

"The pressure is very palpable," said Cooper of the situation at the time.

During the debate, all of the candidates were eager to be called upon so they were intently staring at him and it became somewhat uncomfortable.

"It got to the point where I was just sort of staring at their navels," joked Cooper.

Poking a little fun at politicians, Cooper said that he was amazed at the amount of details that the candidates had to agree upon before the debates, such as the temperature of the room, the size of the podiums, etc. In other words, everything is set up in advance, including what the candidates say during the debates.

"It's kind of like visiting the Hall of Presidents at Disneyland," joked Cooper. "They're remarkably lifelike up close."

BROADCASTING FROM OVERSEAS

Cooper said that it is important to report on the human condition around the world, to tell the stories of those who would otherwise be ignored.

"I think there's great value in bearing witness," said Cooper. "...It's a great privilege in telling people's stories. They want their stories to be told."

In broadcasting and showing video from countries overseas, Cooper said he tries to place the audience member there.

"You try to bring people along with you," said Cooper, who said that his goal is to try and take people to a place they might never visit.

In an era of declining budgets for gathering news from around the world, Cooper acknowledged that there is also a business aspect that enters into decisions as to what TV networks cover and where they expend their dwindling resources.

"There is a business component as to what stories get told," said Cooper adding that sometimes TV "does not do a good job of covering certain topics."

"Unless there is a groundswell of interest in [covering an event or topic in another country], it won't be reported," said Cooper. "It's a hard thing...it's very hard to argue [from a financial standpoint] that those stories need to be told."

HURRICANE KATRINA

Anderson seems to have a special place in his heart for the people of Louisiana and Mississippi after he reported on the death and destruction seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He mentioned the experience prominently in his book and also talked about the event in his speech at Elon University.

Cooper seemed to be very emotional about what he saw on the ground in the local communities versus what was being reported in Washington DC and in the news at the time of the hurricane. In a scene captured on television, President Bush famously commented that the head of FEMA was doing a "heckuva job" of getting aid to victims, while people were receiving no help whatsoever.

"Having politicians praising each other on television was purely infuriating," said Cooper.

Meanwhile, people were left for dead or dying in Louisiana and Mississippi, said the news anchor.

Cooper recalled the story of elderly New Orleans resident Ethyl Freeman who survived the hurricane, only to die in her wheelchair at the New Orleans Convention Center.

"They realized when they got to the convention center, they were lied to," said Cooper.

He said there was no food, no buses, and no relief at the site.

In the hot sun, Ms. Freeman died in her wheelchair outside the convention center. Her body had to be abandoned by her son, Herbert Freeman who had to leave the area in order to survive. A picture of Ms. Freeman's body still in her wheelchair appeared in newspapers around the world as a symbol of the desperation that many felt in Katrina's wake.

"She lived a decent life...but she was forgotten by everyone except her son," said Cooper. Cooper said that her body was finally recovered by her son some six months later from a warehouse in the city.

Cooper warned that the situation in New Orleans and Mississippi could be repeated elsewhere and that people need to realize that they can only depend on themselves for help in such disasters.

"How people were treated there might be how we're treated in the next disaster," said Cooper.

He added that he understood the feelings expressed by many people who lived through Katrina of "not wanting to be told what to do, not waiting to be told what to do by the government."

REPORTING VERSUS HELPING

When a student asked Anderson Cooper if he ever had helped the people he was reporting on, he said that he saw no problem with that type of effort.

"I don't see a huge conflict between being a human being and a reporter at the same time," said Cooper. Cooper added that if he did help someone, he acknowledged it in his broadcast as a matter of disclosure.

After seeing so much carnage and suffering, Cooper said the hard part was not being cynical.

He recalled seeing a train wreck in Sri Lanka after the massive tsunami hit the region. "It was a scene of intense horror," said Cooper.

Another reporter there with another network was talking at the scene and mentioned to Cooper that the train wreck was not as bad as another he had seen.

"I sorta wanted to hit him," said Cooper. "There shouldn't be a sliding scale of horror. If you can't feel moved by what you're seeing, you have no business being there."

Cooper admitted that it's hard not to become jaded and cynical. He recalls taking a picture in Africa of a woman who had died and her body had decomposed, with the skin hanging off of it. He took a picture of the woman's hand and then "realized I had crossed this line" by treating her body as a thing instead of a human being.

He said he keeps the photo in his office to remind him to remember the human aspect of each story.

LIVING IN TWO WORLDS

After going through such traumatic experiences overseas, it's often hard to return to the United States where life is much different, said Cooper.

"If anything, I have a much greater appreciation for this remarkable place that is our country," said Cooper about America.

As an example, he said that unlike many countries around the world, the United States has a peaceful transition of power in government.

He said because of that huge difference between life in the United States and what he has seen overseas, it's hard to adjust to a "normal" life after being in harm's way reporting in foreign lands.

"It is really hard," he said. "It's overwhelming at times...it's one of the most difficult things...when you've had a difficult experience."

Cooper told a student who had worked overseas to try and stay connected to the places they have visited for as long as possible. As a piece of advice towards that goal, he said he tried to keep physical objects and keepsakes from the lands he has visited.

In addition, Cooper said that one of his own goals is to travel to Africa at least once a year to keep up with developments there.

THE HUMAN CONDITION

Anderson Cooper said that there is a major lesson that he has learned over his last 15 years of reporting in over 50 different countries.

"The one thing I've learned is that the line between the living and the dead, the rich and poor...is thin," said Cooper. "As thin as the walls of the human heart."

"The frailty of the world, is something that I see all the time" added Cooper. "It's the bond that keeps us human."

MOBBED BY STUDENTS

After his speech, Cooper was mobbed by literally hundreds of Elon University students who wanted to talk with the popular anchor. Ever friendly and courteous, Cooper signed autographs, took photographs with students, and chatted with as many people as he could for several minutes.

Wading through a sea of students who obviously enjoyed hearing him speak, Cooper was eventually whisked away by Leo Lambert, President of Elon University so that he could make his flight out of North Carolina to return to the CNN studios for his evening broadcast.

Photos by The Raleigh Telegram
Photos Copyright, The Raleigh Telegram