 "Photo: Val Menning, The Volante, 2009")
CBS news anchor Katie Couric’s main advice to USD students was to have passion in life and in work.
Couric spoke in Vermillion before an estimated 4,000 onlookers at the DakotaDome Thursday and accepted the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media.
Couric said she was excited for an opportunity to speak with students preparing for careers.
“Don’t let the turkeys get you down,” Couric said.
Couric encouraged students to remember that they always have something to offer the world and that working with passion makes what you do not really work at all.
“To do well in this business, as in any business, you have to have moxy,” Couric said.
Just hours after Couric landed in Yankton, S.D., Couric accepted award, presented by USD alumnus and USA Today founder Al Neuharth.
The award, which has honored broadcast journalists such as Walter Cronkie and Tim Russert, recognizes Couric’s 30 years as a journalist, Freedom Forum Vice President Jack Marsh said.
“This award is for lifetime achievements. It honors the best of the best,” Freedom Forum founder Al Neuharth said.
Neuharth spoke about how the act of admitting when you are wrong builds trust with the public. He then acknowledged that when Couric first started as the network anchor, Neuharth wrote in his weekly USA Today “Plain Talk” column that she would “not cut it.” Neuharth admitted that he was wrong.
Couric was the first female solo anchor of a weekday network evening news and has covered many domestic and international stories in her three years at the seat. She has also interviewed presidents, culture icons and other public figures.
“In her career she has risen to the pinnacle of broadcast journalism. She has also rewritten the job description of a network anchor,” Marsh said.
USD President James Abbott joined Couric on stage for the presentation and said the Neuharth award program brings a unique chance for students to get to know top journalists.
“It says that people with significant careers in other places, stars in their respective fields, care enough about the University of South Dakota that they would come and speak with our students,” Abbott said. “It elevates our campus, it elevates our students and it makes us all feel better about our university.”
Marsh said the Freedom Forum was happy with the turnout and with the night.
Freshman Lathasha Braden said she though the whole presentation went smoothly.
“I thought it was fairly interesting. When I first went I thought it was going to be boring, but I learned a lot about her,” Braden said.
Braden said she went to the presentation to receive extra credit for a class but afterwards said that it was worth it to go even without the extra credit.
“I learned a lot and I thought it was exciting to be a part of the whole experience,” Braden said.
Throughout her speech, Couric described the necessity of being passionate about what one does and to not give up in the face of adversity.
Couric recounted how she became what she is today. She said she realized that she wanted to do something in broadcast after she became interested in the feminist movement.
“I thought it was important to show that a woman could be just as competent as a man,” Couric said.
It took many attempts to break into the field, Couric said, but her determination and desire to get reporting experience paid off.
She described her first network job fetching coffee and sandwiches and running the Xerox machine at a broadcast network, and how that forced her to really strive to be the best at her job. She had to be determined and continuously pursued her goals.
“Hi, my name is Katie and I’m addicted to work,” Couric said.
Couric said that as a budding journalist, few people believed in her potential to become a news anchor.
It only took one person to really believe in her, she said, and that person was Tim Russert, then chief of NBC’s Washington Bureau. From there she was able to break the glass ceiling and become the first female solo anchor of a network.
Couric said she is proud of all the stories that she has covered and the people that have inspired her along the way.
“Who can say that they interviewed Bill Clinton, Howard Stern and Elmo all in the same day?” Couric asked.
Freshman Jacob Holle, who attended the presentation, said Couric has a broad background in journalism and has interviewed many “major people” from society.
“She has been out there, doing her work. She isn’t an anchor that just sits behind a desk: She is out there in the field reporting,” he said.
Holle added that the fact that Couric is able to go beyond her medium and report through other outlets also makes her deserving of recognition through this award.
Braden said that she was impressed with Couric’s story of how she started at the bottom and worked her way to the top.
“She proved that she could make it and that others weren’t going to bring her down. She kept her personality and her morals. She didn’t change for society,” Braden said.
Reach reporter Chris Jessen at Chris.Jessen@usd.edu.
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