Video Conference #2 – Bob Schieffer
When Bob Schieffer first debuted on Face the Nation 56 years ago, the way journalism was done was completely different. There was no Internet. There were no microblogs that tracked the news in real time, no RSS feeds that let you subscribe to a particular type of news and nothing that let you have the news anywhere and any time you wanted it. Everything was different back then.
Well, almost everything.
“The one constant that will never change is the need for professionally trained reporters to gather the news” said Schieffer.
Schieffer’s message to journalism students is simple. The media for reporting and how they are structured and layed out changes what seems like every day, but no matter what the media are, the craft of writing a story remains the same.
Schieffer, who has also served as an anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News since 1973, joined students participating from the George Mason University Video Studio along with Steve Scully, the political editor for the C-SPAN networks, and students from the TCU School of Journalism (named after Schieffer) and the University of Denver last Thursday.
According to Schieffer, while lots of things have changed over the past half century, his show is not one of them.
“Face the Nation is basically the same as when we first broadcasted in 1954″ said Schieffer.
The basic objectives of a journalist have not changed, either. Among other things, two of the things that Schieffer advised the students participating in the video conference is that the journalist’s job is to find the truth and portray that truth in language your audience can understand.
“Tell the story the way you would tell your mother” said Schieffer.
With the advent of new technology, there is often as emphasis on being the first to publish a story, whether it has inaccuracies or not. Schieffer told the students that accuracy in news should not be sacrificed for immediacy.
“It’s better to be right than first on a story” said Schieffer.
The distance learning course, which is produced by C-SPAN, is a unique opportunity for students to interview guests via video conference. The course airs on C-SPAN3 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and also streams online.
You can watch the complete interview here
