October 7, 2011 | Events

Developing a Voice in Journalism and Other Writing

Seven-time Emmy Award winner Bonnie Anderson to deliver Crain Lecture

By Wendy Leopold

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Seven-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Bonnie Anderson will speak at Northwestern University Friday, Oct. 28, as part of the Gertrude and G.D. Crain Jr. Lecture Series.

Her talk, “Your First Question,” will begin at 4 p.m. in the McCormick Tribune

Center Forum, 1870 Campus Drive, on the Evanston campus. Presented by Medill, it is free and open to the public.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Anderson is a veteran of print, radio, Internet and television journalism in English and in Spanish. She has worked on camera for local, national and international news corporations, including two decades with NBC News and CNN. In 2000, she was inducted into the Medill Hall of Achievement.

As a CNN national correspondent, she covered breaking news stories including the Oklahoma City bombing, the Los Angeles earthquake, Hurricane Andrew and the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco.

As a NBC News foreign correspondent, she reported from more than 100 countries, covering the civil wars in El Salavador, Nicaragua and Lebanon, the famine and civil war in Ethiopia, the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf War.

She is the author of “News Flash,” which chronicles her view of the decline of television journalism into infotainment as an increasing number of network executives come out of the entertainment industry.

Anderson’s lecture will focus on “voice” in writing, and its role in journalism and in writing professions from blogging to ghostwriting. “There are many different ways to make a living as a writer,” says Anderson. With media consolidations and increased competition for fewer jobs, Anderson suggests that it is beneficial to students to understand the importance of mastering different writing voices.

On Sunday, Oct. 30, Anderson will be presented with the 2011 Outstanding Woman’s Alumnae Award from the Alumnae of Northwestern University.

The Gertrude and G.D. Crain Jr. Lecture Series regularly brings journalists, newsmakers and others discussing current events and the news business to Northwestern’s Evanston campus. For more information about the upcoming lecture, call Catherine Rabenstine at (847) 491-5593 or visit http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/.