CU Distinguished Lecture Series: Anderson Cooper
As a foreign correspondent and CNN news anchor, Anderson Cooper has travelled the world for his work, and on Tuesday March 6, he spent a rare day off in the Macky Auditorium at CU. Sponsored by The Distinguished Lecture Series, Cooper was brought to CU for his journalistic contributions in global investigative reporting and, recently, his role in shaping political and election coverage. Cooper has won 16 Emmy Awards in his career, one most notably for his coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. His immense success and recognition as a journalist is welcomed, he says, but he worked hard to get where he is and encourages students to do the same in whatever field they’re pursuing.
Students and Boulder community members alike flooded to this sold-out event. But Cooper was modest, joking with audience members not to clap after every time he speaks. Like his wisdom, his humor was appreciated; when asked how he prepares for his CNN newscast, he responded, “I just show up.”
Before taking questions students tweeted during the talk, Cooper gave background on his life and career. When he graduated from Yale University with a degree in political science, Cooper took an entry-level job with ABC answering the phone. After being denied a promotion to start reporting, Cooper decided to take the initiative to “travel to wars,” as he called it, and report independently. While risking his life, he sent his home-made news segments in Myanmar to Channel One, and that, he says, is where he found his calling, and hasn’t stopped reporting since.
“What I do doesn’t feel like work to me,” he said.
Cooper touched on the ethics of conflict journalism, which is reporting in areas of war and disaster. Despite the countless tragedies he has witnessed, Cooper emphasized how essential it is not to compare one to the next, but see each one in a new light. While expressing emotions is for when you’re alone that night, he says, remembering that you are still human even if you have a camera, and should feel empathy for those your reporting on, is the most ethical way to conduct this type of journalism. You are there to shed light on an injustice, he says, and doing so is an honorable profession that shouldn’t be taken mildly.
“Things don’t change until they change,” said Cooper, responding to a question on what students can do to make a difference.
Students tweeted questions ranging from what advice Cooper has to undergraduates to his opinion on Trump and “fake news.” Cooper was clear that his job as a journalist is not to share his political opinion, but to relay facts. However, he still threw in jokes on Trump’s large presence on Twitter, but also noted that while there is such thing as “fake news,” media outlets like The Washington Post and The New York Times work hard to distribute accurate and factual journalism, and insults discrediting them are disrespectful, especially to conflict journalists like himself who risk their lives reporting.
“From what I’d do, you’d expect to see only darkness and horror, but with that I’ve also been able to see light and humanity,” said Cooper, wrapping up the 90 minute event with a standing ovation.