They were excited to go see the White House, but two editors from The Shield got even more than they expected.
The University of Southern Indiana students noticed that something seemed to be happening outside… then they saw Usher.
Usher was one of a host of performers Oct. 21 at the first lady’s final White House concert.
The editors arrived at dinner excitedly naming all of the celebrities they saw. Some of them I had heard of, and, admittedly, some of them I had not. But, I was happy that they had a memorable experience, especially since I saw a celebrity today too.
Bob Woodward was the second keynote speaker at the annual Associated Collegiate Press National College Media Convention in D.C. For those of you keeping track, Donna Brazile opened the convention, and Edward Snowden speaks tomorrow. That’s three amazing speakers in as many days.
Journalists aspire to be like Woodward and his partner, Carl Bernstein, whose original reporting on the Watergate scandal resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon. We want to be the type of reporters who dig deep to investigate wrongdoing, and we wish we lived in the Watergate era when the journalism profession was at what most would agree was an all-time high.
In other words, Woodward is a huge deal in journalism.
The first advice Woodward gave to more than 1,000 convention attendees in the standing-room-only speech was to “show up” if they want to really get the news.
Woodward went on to advise student journalists to find something that’s not working and explain it in-depth, to read their work out loud, to understand that the results of their work won’t be perfect, and not to succumb to authority. He also told them to use documents, people and observations from the scene to inform their stories, and to really be interested in the people they interview.
We are all dying to have someone take us seriously. If you show an interest in them, they generally will respond.”
In his final comments, Woodward asked students to raise their hands if they love journalism. It was thrilling to see the majority of the hands in the room shoot up. I’m pretty sure this pleased Woodward too.
Loving journalism is the most important part of it.”
He’s not Usher, but Woodward is an A-list celebrity in my book.
