NBC Nightly News chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson, whose work in journalism has allowed her to cover the Catholic Church and major environmental issues, spoke to several Notre Dame journalism students at the Gallivan Advisory Committee’s panel discussion last Monday morning about her accomplished career.
Thompson, who has amassed more than 35 years of journalism experience, spent her hour-long discussion meshing personal stories with lessons from her experience in journalism as a Notre Dame alum.
“There is one thing that you are guaranteed to cover in journalism coming from Notre Dame – the Vatican. I am the token Catholic journalist,” Thompson jokingly said.
As a correspondent for NBC Nightly News, Thompson has covered the Catholic Church for the past decade, interviewing Pope John Paul II as well as Pope Francis.
She described her experience flying to Rio in July 2013 alongside Pope Francis on the papal plane.
“This was my first papal flight with Pope Francis, and the first thing I told him was not that I worked for NBC, but that I went to Notre Dame, of course,” Thompson said. “He smiled, looked at my Notre Dame Board of Trustees necklace and simply blessed it…It’s the little things that [Pope Francis] does that make the most powerful statement.”
In addition to covering the Vatican, Thompson has also covered a variety of environmental issues.
She talked about her difficult experience tackling the 2010 B.P. oil spill in Louisiana, where she stayed for five months covering every aspect of the crisis. According to the Tyndall Report, this extensive coverage made Thompson the NBC News Correspondent with the most airtime in 2010.
“I had very little knowledge on oil spills prior to the crisis, so reporting on the oil spill was a challenge, but a very rewarding one that taught me a valuable lesson: Don’t ever fear that you are not an expert,” Thompson said. “There is a difference between being an expert and being well informed. You want to be able to ask many questions and learn about the crisis at the same time.
Anne reporting near the Gulf in 2010 during the B.P. oil crisis.
Thompson commented on how her commitment to continued learning outside the classroom has positively influenced her career.
“The great thing that I have discovered about being a journalist is that you are constantly learning,” Thompson said. “Don’t ever be afraid that you don’t know enough when you go to interview someone because your job is to find out more.”
Thompson went on to explain the main principals she chooses to live by as a reporter.
“My job everyday is to get as close to the truth as I possibly can. It’s not about who I like, who I don’t like, none of that. What determines my story is what accurate information I am able to get,” Thompson said.
Thompson ended her lecture by emphasizing what an important role Notre Dame has played throughout her entire career in journalism.
“I’ve always felt that what Notre Dame has given me as a reporter is the ability to tell a compassionate story, and to realize that a story isn’t about you, but about the people. Notre Dame teaches you to be empathetic, sensitive, and truly teaches you that the world is not about you, but about us,” Thompson said. “In a business that can become very self-centered if you want it to, Notre Dame keeps you humbled and keeps your focus outward as opposed to inward. That’s an extraordinary gift that Notre Dame has given to all of us.”
We couldn’t be more proud to call you an alum, Anne!
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