Al Jazeera America host (and Medill alum) Joie Chen speaks with current graduate students.
WASHINGTON – About 30 years ago Joie Chen reported from Medill’s newsroom on G Street while working toward her master’s degree. On Wednesday, she was back in the newsroom, sharing her expertise as the new anchor of Al Jazeera America’s flagship news program.
Her television news career included stops at CNN and CBS Evening News. Chen stepped out of the journalism spotlight several years ago, but starting Tuesday, she will appear as host of AJA’s “America Tonight.”
I sat down with Chen to talk about the show, her career and Medill’s influence on her work.
On her role at Al Jazeera America: “I am the host of this program, but I’m not the star of it. ‘America Tonight’ is a platform for the storyteller, not for celebrity.”
On the show’s long-form style: “I think we have the opportunity to do something nobody else in the U.S. news media is doing – to approach stories with depth, to approach stories that are underreported, to cover communities that are underserved. Anybody who has worked on a mainstream news program has stories that they have wanted to cover but haven’t had the time or resources or the support of a show to do them.”
On her rigorous schedule leading up to the launch of “America Tonight”: “We do a full show every day, and so we treat it as though we’re going live. … By Tuesday I’ll be really tired.”
On her break from broadcasting: “I left journalism and I thought I was done. … I was perfectly happy eating whatever I wanted and wearing flat shoes all the time.”
On her deep voice: “My parents are immigrants. Neither spoke English particularly well so when I was small, instead of letting me watch cartoons, … they’d sit me down in front of Walter Cronkite every night because they were sure he spoke proper English. … I always say he’s where my voice comes from.“
On social media: “I like Twitter because my brain can handle 140 characters. Facebook seems like a lot more responsibility and work. It’s like having a plant and needing to water it. I can’t take enough pictures to Instagram.”
On Medill: “I have a ton of affection for Medill, and I still believe it is the best journalism school in the country.”
On the importance of writing: “I believe that you never get past writing. … Writing has to be the basis of everything – all storytelling.”
On the state of the news industry for young journalists: “In a lot of ways I believe there are a lot more opportunities for you than there were for me. Today I think what it means to be a journalist is not so circumscribed.”
On why she took time to chat with Medill grad students: “Because I think that Medill was central to my journalism career and so it’s our responsibility to the next generation to help them and nurture them along.”