Hari Sreenivasan is an experienced journalist; before working for PBS NewsHour, he worked for CBS evening news, with Katie Couric and Peter Jennings, and at c-Net. On Friday morning of September 11, Sreenivasan and ten students from the Krieger School discussed how to be successful as a reporter, and in any career, over breakfast. While telling students about his life as a reporter, Sreenivasan also offered advice to students who were interested in the field and what it is really like.

He walked students through his reporting process, saying first and foremost, do what they tell you to do – then begin pitching ideas, while asking, “What is a compelling story?” He says that it’s “pretty easy to decide” on which story you’ll report, if “you’re passionate about it.”

Sreenivasan says that a big part of a reporter’s job is to make the story palatable to viewers. However, he also described how the cable news society feeds viewers what they already believe in and therefore limits ideas and constructive debate. He sums it up as “an echo chamber,” and said watching a station like PBS may build a more informed public by challenging viewers’ beliefs.

Sreenivasan left the students with a few pieces of advice: reach out to alumni; learn as much about history, economics, science, technology, language, and politics as possible; and push for what you want. He encouraged the students to do what they love; for him, career satisfaction is necessary to produce good work. He told students that if they weren’t spiritually nourished, they should leave their job. Why? He says “because you can always make more money, but you can never make more time.”

As a closing point, Sreenivasan encouraged the students to take advantage of Hopkins outside of the classroom, saying that “there is so much more that will influence you and shape you than what happens in the classroom.”

by Clarissa Chen