Andrew Heyward (Photo provided by Margot Cahoon)
By Jessica Lynch
Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News and senior advisor at MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication, will take the stage at the Tilden Arts Center on May 8 at 7 p.m. to discuss the state of journalism today, the current threats on it and where we can go from here in his talk “From Cronkite to Crisis.”
Heyward has decades of experience in journalism. He set out to go to law school after graduating from Harvard University but decided to take a year off. During that gap year, he tried journalism.
“I had really no credentials or qualifications, but I was interested in how people get information and how ideas are transmitted,” Heyward says in a phone interview.
He got a job at an independent station in New York and became “hooked” on the “wild and wooly atmosphere.” He decided to ditch the idea of law school to work his way up the ranks in journalism.
He produced the 10 o’clock news at the station, now known as Fox, then transferred to working for CBS. He started the newsmagazine show “48 Hours.” He eventually became the president of CBS news, where he served for 10 years before pursuing consulting in the digital world and focusing on local news.
Heyward’s shift to local news was intentional.
“It’s a source of hope in a time when journalism in general is in a lot of trouble,” he says. “It’s more likely to be trusted because it can’t be demonized. It’s something right in front of your eyes — it’s verifiable.”
Heyward refers to a Gallup research poll that showed that trust in public news has gotten increasingly low, especially among Republicans.
“That’s dangerous because our whole system depends on checks and balances – and one of those checks and balances is free and fair press – journalism. (It) holds the powerful to account. If that’s weakened, if that’s not trusted – then we have a weaker democracy.”
Heyward hopes those who attend his May 8 talk take “a realistic understanding” of why journalism is in crisis and how we can restore the field to its former glory, or pretty close to it.
”I want to present a path forward that lays out an optimistic plan for how journalism can regain people’s trust and therefore it’s critical role in our society,” he says.
Heyward’s advice to journalists working in the current political landscape in our country is to first honor the foundation of journalism.
“Nothing is more important than the basic tenants of fairness and accuracy, No. 1. No. 2, to the degree that you can, work for a place that is willing to invest in original reporting, enterprise reporting. As opposed to regurgitating and recycling material that’s already out there on the information landscape, digging a bit harder for new information that helps people understand the issues in the world around them. I would also encourage journalists to develop an area of expertise.”
He also recommends journalists consider working for local news.
This first installation in the speaker series is produced in partnership withthe Academy for Lifelong Learning of Cape Cod. 4Cs students and staff can attend this event free of charge.
