A conversation with Judy Woodruff, the former CNN news anchor(4)

2007-04-19 13:37:21 [ Big Normal Small ]  zong xing  　Comment

Z: Of all the circumstance you have experienced, is there a particular one that you remember? Tell me five of your most unforgettable experience in your journalism career.

W: Yes, I can. No. 1, I was there as a pool report in March 30th, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley. That was unforgettable. I was in Washington D.C. on Sept 11th, 2001, getting ready to go to work, when the attack happened in New York, as I was driving to work, the attack happened in Pentagon, I reported on that all day long. I will never forget that day. I have to think what else? I was in the election night in 2000, Nov 2nd, I think, when the news media got it wrong. It wasn’t clear whether Bush had more votes, Florida is still out, that was a long night, we worked until 6 the next morning, but the election went on for another 37 days, until lawyers argued and argued, finally went to U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said Florida court was wrong, and Florida legislation was right, therefore Bush was President, which was unforgettable moment.

I was there with President Jimmy Carter, it was 1978, he led the shuttle diplomacy went through Israel and Egypt, try to bring Menachem Begin, the Israel prime minister and Anwar al-Sadat, the president of Egypt. They signed a peace agreement on the mid east. Then they brought it to Camp David outside Washington D.C. and I covered Camp David report, It came out with an agreement many years after that. It was relative peace, not perfect peace after that. That’s a very important moment. I don’t know what the fifth one would be. I have to think.

Z: You are giving a lecture “Media and politics” this semester at Duke University. In U.S. to what degree do you think Media coverage changed people’s attitude towards politics?

W: Oh, it affects enormously. People learn about what’s going on in government and politics. Very seldom did people have a chance to see in person the white house, to see the congress in person; they have to learn them from the news media, through radio, through television, now through the internet. The news media is critical to convey that information to the public in all of its forms, from what the bill was debated on the floor, to what the day to day is happening in Iraq, what happened in Beijing today? What did the Chinese leader say about the currency issue? All that has to come through the media. Media plays a huge role in this country.

Z: There are a variety of choices for TV channels. Among them, C-span channel is quite unique. It keeps broadcasting different live conferences and hearings. What do you think of C-span? Do you think people will get bored?

W: Yeah, it just keeps going. You turn the camera on and see what is going on. I think it is a very important option. We have many options, from C-span, which is just turning on the cameras--here is what is going on--to PBS, which I work now, we take longer time to explore the issues, all the way to the network, to New York Times, to cable news, internet, the blog, all the way to straight reporting, the public is going to decide a little of this, a little of that. That’s how they become informed, and in fact, they should become informed. Every citizen should be informed.

Z: I am sure being a journalist is very stressful, how do you keep balance with family life?

W: well, I have a family, I have three children. I have an older son who is 25. He is actually disabled, my middle son has been at Duke; he is taking a leave now but will come back. Our daughter, actually we adopted her from South Korea. She is 17 and now in high school. She is looking at college right now. I am taking her all across the country and decide which school she would like to choose. My family is the most important thing in my life. I love journalism, my husband is also a journalist. Between family and work, that’s just about it. I like to read, but I don’t have much time to read, I have to decide the reading.

Z: Your husband Al Hunt used to work for Wall Street journal and now is the managing editor of Bloomberg news. I am sure there are times when you couple have different opinions, how do you resolve it?

W: We don’t agree on everything. Politics is not the most important in my life. It’s our family. Even if we disagree on something, it doesn’t matter, we still love each other.

Z: At the end of my conversation. I am going to ask you a few China questions. Have you ever traveled to China?

W: I went to China twice in the same year 1995. I went to Beijing and Shanghai. In 1994, we had a young women living with our family who is an exchange student of my children’s high school. She became like a daughter to us. She is from Shanghai, her name is Shengli zhu, or lily. She came to do one year high school in Washington. She went to ? and graduated with high honors, worked in Wall Street for Morgan Stanley, did very well, could choose any career she wanted, but she chose to do teaching. She married a native Chinese also from Shanghai, they both worked in New York, now they went back to Shanghai. She is very close to our family, she is like our daughter. In fact, we talked on the phone all the time. So we visited at our family vacation, took our children to Beijing then shanghai, we met the family and we had dinner with them.
That was in June. I went back that August, it was the 4th world women’s conference in Beijing, I stayed another week and a half in China. The same year.

I would also like to tell you that when I was a young girl, my father was in the United States Army, he was based on Taiwan, so I lived in Gaosheng for 3 years when I was 10 or 11 years old. I want to go back to China; lily wanted us to visit again.

Z: What’s your impression about the Chinese media?

W: I didn’t really understand Chinese media because I don’t understand Chinese. Unfortunately, but when I was there, we visited the Shanghai television station, we had a tour of the Shanghai television, we talked with the journalists there, my husband and I were interviewed by some journalists. I found it very interesting. I want to go back and spend more time with the Chinese newspaper journalists and television journalists. Maybe next year. I was offered a chance by another American university to be a visiting scholar in China for two weeks. I can’t do it because I had a commitment. But I am thinking of doing it in the near future, maybe in 2008.

(China.com)

Related:
﹣Interview with Dr. Linda Kreitzman (2007-04-16 11:13:57)
﹣Interview with Dean Joss, Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) (2007-04-12 13:50:48)