By Steve Knight/managing editor
An MSNBC newscaster told students, “Your heart will rule the day,” during a visit to NE Campus Friday as part of Women’s History Month.
Tamron Hall, a native of Luling, Texas, and veteran journalist, spoke to a crowded hall of students, faculty and staff about journalism, politics and life.
Hall reported at KBTX in Bryan, Texas, KTVT in Fort Worth and WFLD in Chicago prior to joining MSNBC in 2007.
She said students should have a plan, no matter what field they decide to enter.
“Take your Texas sensibility with you. It is invaluable,” she said.
Hall, who attended Fort Worth’s Polytechnic High School, joked that she became a journalist because she talks a lot.
“I think I got kicked out of every school in Fort Worth [for talking]. I wasn’t bad, I was misunderstood,” she said.
Hall said there is no secret to success in broadcast journalism.
“I look at these people as those I care about,” she said, referencing the recent Red River floods in the Midwest. “Be honest.”
In the 10 years Hall spent in Chicago, she covered everything from a devastating Amtrak train accident to an interview with Sen. Barack Obama before his presidential candidacy.
Hall, making time afterward to speak to Reporting II students, said journalists must make a commitment to news.
“Cable news is changing everything. It goes so fast — from an AIG story to a police pursuit in Florida to a Britney Spears story,” she said.
Hall, a graduate of Temple University, said potential journalists should read and become familiar with a variety of subjects, giving themselves a dose of everything.
Working at NBC News and living in Manhattan is not all glamour. Hall starts her working day at 6 a.m., and it may last 10-12 hours.
“I have four or five alarm clocks with one in the bathroom so I have to get up then,” she said.
Hall said since she also does some news reading for the weekend edition of Today, along with her anchoring duties, she sometimes may go several weeks without a day off.
Tim Russert, former Meet the Press moderator and Washington bureau chief who died June 13, was an inspiration to all at NBC News, including Hall.
“He was nice, unaffected and jovial. He would sometimes say to me, ‘Hey kid, how’s it going?’” she said of Russert.
“He stayed common in an environment that is uncommon.”
Hall also said David Gregory was the right choice to replace Russert as Meet the Press moderator, bringing younger and newer guests to the program.
When interviewing guests, Hall suggested using notes, but it is also important to use a conversational style.
“Be brave, be bold and know your stuff. Use resources, but listen to the guest. There is a tactful way to ask anything,” she said.
NE nursing student Lashawn Alegria, a mother with six children, said Hall is an inspiration to many women.
“She went through the same hardships and struggles that I have. Everything happens for a reason,” she said.
Taylor Cyphers, a NE student from Southlake, said Hall is a definite inspiration to all, especially black women.
“She had to overcome a lot of things and told us to hang in there and try,” he said.
Hall said she always wanted to be a journalist and could not think of anything she would rather be.
“Except selling T-shirts in Cancun,” she said.
