To be brutally honest, Mark Manders' brutal honesty made me reevaluate my future career as a Journalist. Mark's confident demeanor, lack of any reservations and profane language were intimidating enough. When he admitted that firing employees was not only an easy task, but somewhat fun, I became absolutely terrified. It certainly takes a special person, a person with extremely thick skin, to stay as calm and completely unemotional when carrying out such a task as firing a major talent at a news station.
Although Mark's presentation regarded the sales aspect of broadcasting, his line of work involves similar pressures that parallel those of journalists as well. Both require a person who is focused, strong-willed and extremely hard working. Mark obviously emulates a person of this caliber.
Like they say, and I'm sure Mark would agree, "suck it up." If I learned one thing, it would be to take every rejection and criticism with a grain of salt and persevere through every negative experience. I have realized the importance of being flexible and willing to travel wherever my career may take me.
Overall, I enjoyed hearing an insider's perspective on the sales aspect of broadcasting. Although Mark frightened me to an extent, he made me realize how vital it is to be more open, flexible and thick-skinned in the business of news.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
John Stossel
On Thursday, April 3, College Republicans brought John Stossel, co-anchor and award-winning news correspondent of ABC Television Network’s “20/20” to the stage of the Montante Cultural Center at Canisius College.
Stossel’s commanding presence immediately captured the attention of the audience as he intrigued us all with is intelligence, captivated us with his personal stories and entertained us with his wit.
Stossel spoke about his past career as a TV consumer reporter and his drastic viewpoints on government control. He thinks it is time for the government to stop protecting us from ourselves. He feels that “although the government protects us from bad things, it also protects us from the good.” Stossel believes it is open competition, not the government that can protect us. “The free market protects consumers in unexpected ways,” he claims.
“How big should the government be?” Stossel urged the audience to ponder this question. He feels the government is necessary to protect our property and keep citizens safe, but they are overstepping their bounds. He argues that as Americans, we should at least have the freedom to decide what we put into our bodies. He feels that government control seems to complicate things--from complex drug labels that consumers don’t bother to read (primarily because they are too confusing), to the fact that it takes longer to get a permit to build a house than the actual process of building the house--which actually cause us to become “less safe.”
The ironic part about Stossel’s career is that he has won 19 Emmy Awards as a consumer reporter but zero since he has been criticizing the government, his true calling.
Lastly, one thing that I found to be very interesting was when Michael Rautins interviewed Stossel privately and asked what advice he would give to future journalists. Stossel’s advice was “don’t go to school for Journalism.” This seems rather bizarre, but Stossel believes that students can prepare themselves better from majoring in Political Science or English. He thinks that the skills necessary to become a successful journalist come with practice and that a strong knowledge base will do more in the long run for future journalists.
Stossel’s commanding presence immediately captured the attention of the audience as he intrigued us all with is intelligence, captivated us with his personal stories and entertained us with his wit.
Stossel spoke about his past career as a TV consumer reporter and his drastic viewpoints on government control. He thinks it is time for the government to stop protecting us from ourselves. He feels that “although the government protects us from bad things, it also protects us from the good.” Stossel believes it is open competition, not the government that can protect us. “The free market protects consumers in unexpected ways,” he claims.
“How big should the government be?” Stossel urged the audience to ponder this question. He feels the government is necessary to protect our property and keep citizens safe, but they are overstepping their bounds. He argues that as Americans, we should at least have the freedom to decide what we put into our bodies. He feels that government control seems to complicate things--from complex drug labels that consumers don’t bother to read (primarily because they are too confusing), to the fact that it takes longer to get a permit to build a house than the actual process of building the house--which actually cause us to become “less safe.”
The ironic part about Stossel’s career is that he has won 19 Emmy Awards as a consumer reporter but zero since he has been criticizing the government, his true calling.
Lastly, one thing that I found to be very interesting was when Michael Rautins interviewed Stossel privately and asked what advice he would give to future journalists. Stossel’s advice was “don’t go to school for Journalism.” This seems rather bizarre, but Stossel believes that students can prepare themselves better from majoring in Political Science or English. He thinks that the skills necessary to become a successful journalist come with practice and that a strong knowledge base will do more in the long run for future journalists.
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