Here’s what you missed at Anderson Cooper’s talk

Yesterday, Anderson Cooper, CNN personality and host of “Anderson Cooper 360°”, visited campus to give a talk at Cohen Auditorium as part of the Edward R. Murrow Forum on Journalism.

When I first heard Cooper was coming to Tufts, I immediately texted my mom who promptly freaked out. She, like many of us, has an unabashed crush on the journalist. Cooper is a fixture in my household – I heard almost every major news story of my childhood from him. Whether it was Hurricane Katrina or the Haiti Earthquake or the war in Iraq and Afghanistan or the election cycle, Cooper was the one who broke the story to my family and me.

As a budding journalist, he became the best role model: no story was too big or too remote for him, an incredibly hard worker, to cover.

In short, I was excited.

He did not disappoint. Cooper walked on stage, flanked by Jonathon M. Tisch who would be having a conversation with him, to great applause. “I should’ve went here,” he remarked to even more applause.

He opened the talk by talking about the special relationship he had with his parents. Cooper recently interviewed his mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, who basically raised him alone as his father died when Anderson was just 10 years old. He remarked that the death of his dad changed him as he became much more introverted and serious. “In this country, we don’t speak of grief or loss enough,” he commented.

If anyone can speak of grief or loss, it is someone who, as a senior in college, had to deal with his older brother committing suicide as his mother pleaded him not to. Cooper was further exposed to grief and loss on assignment in war-torn or disaster-stricken regions.

“I have a pretty high tolerance for dangerous situations – or maybe I’m just stupid,” joked Cooper before speaking at length about the gravity of the stories he covered. He talked about what it was like as a gay journalist in foreign countries where homosexuality yields danger. He explained that he still has nightmares from what he has seen and Hurricane Katrina, in particular, haunts him to this day. He has gained a reputation for being an “emotional journalist” because other investigative reporters are cold or callous to the people they are interviewing.

He said: “You shouldn’t go into a tragedy unless you’re willing to be moved by it.” His message was simple: a journalist should respect what they’re seeing and it should horrify them. Cooper explained that it is a disservice to those you’re reporting if you allow your heart to become callous. However, there is a flip side. Cooper also warned that you can’t be so overwhelmed by events that you can’t function.

At this point, Cooper pivoted to talking about the 2016 election, which he has been covering extensively. He prefaced this section of the talk with the caveat that no one, including him, knows where this circus ride of an election cycle is heading.

“It’s hard to imagine they would bring in a Paul Ryan or someone who isn’t currently running,” explained Cooper. As for the Democratic side, Cooper explained that he feels that Bernie Sanders has done a great job of bringing in new people and new ideas to the party and, at the same time, made Hillary Clinton a better general election candidate.

When Tisch asked Cooper his advice for young people and aspiring journalists, he recommended four key things.

1. Outhustle everyone else
2. Work harder than everyone else
3. Make yourself indispensable
4. Be the first one in and the last one out

The event then transitioned to an open question-and-answer. When asked what he thinks his impact is, Cooper was, for once, at a loss for words. The audience laughed out loud as the man who is usually a magician with the English language stumbled through “ums” and “I don’t know.” He stated he doesn’t think about himself as a public person in any way. Anderson joked that he was just a normal guy that people on the street just happen to say hi to very often.

Anderson Cooper was funny, engaging and inspiring. The message of humility and hard work is one that will undoubtedly resonate with the Tufts community.