A panel of five prominent women anchors in the Valley spoke at the Cronkite School’s second Must See Monday event of the semester, discussing the changing industry and the challenges they have faced as broadcast journalists.
“All of these (anchors) have been in the business for more than a decade, and they are all thriving as powerful women,” said Broadcast Director of Cronkite News Service Sue Green, who moderated the all-female panel.
Catherine Anaya of CBS 5 News, Lin Sue Cooney of Channel 12 News, Carey Peña of KTVK 3, Katie Raml of ABC 15 and Linda Williams of Fox 10 gathered to discuss anchoring a newscast that is increasingly driven by social media.
Peña said social media is the key to a journalist’s success in such a competitive industry.
“The more social media you have, the more resources and the more contacts you will have,” Peña said. “And the more people you are in touch with, the more successful you will be … (and) the more momentum you will have once you go out into this competitive workplace, whether you are broadcast or not.”
The entire panel praised the positive aspects of being in the business of broadcast television, but admitted that the industry has unique challenges.
“What’s hard is balancing and trying to have a personal life as a wife and a mother in this business,” Cooney said.
Despite broadcast’s difficulties, anchors have the ability to touch lives and make a difference by telling beautiful stories, Cooney added.
Anaya agreed with Cooney, adding that being an anchor helped her “be more compassionate and more grateful because of the stories of ordinary people who do extraordinary things.”
The event drew a large crowd of predominately female Cronkite students, who cheered and whooped when Green announced that it was “Ladies’ Night!”
Donyell Kesler, a Cronkite graduate student majoring in print journalism, said the discussion provided insight to the broadcast world.
“I liked how they talked about how broadcast is perceived as cutthroat,” Kesler said. “They gave real answers and admitted that certain aspects are tough, but that it is a misconstrued idea.”
Fellow graduate student and broadcast major Julie Levin said she gained perspective from the anchors’ experiences.
“I thought what they said about balancing being a mother with being on TV was insightful and something I had not thought of before.”
Jasmine Barta, a Cronkite freshman majoring in print journalism, said she thought all of the women’s perspectives were inspiring. Barta added that she identified with Williams because she mentioned that she was an aspiring writer before changing her major to broadcast.
“(Williams) said, ‘Find something that makes you sing, go where your heart takes you in journalism, and carve your own niche’ and that really resonated with me,” Barta said.
Contact the reporter at leila.ohara@asu.edu
