ABSTRACT
This chapter offers Norah O'Donnell's encouragement and wisdom about the path to being a reporter, a broadcaster, an editor or a media professional. Beginning O'Donnell's career as a print journalist was probably the smartest career decisions she have ever made. Notebook and pen in hand, she could roam the august halls of Capitol Hill and interview congressmen and women, it was not only fun, but she also learned how to write, and she learned how to ask the right questions. Those skills got her noticed at age 25 by executives at NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN. Then, O'Donnell was hired as a network correspondent for NBC News just as cable news was burgeoning. That was critically important. Back then in the cutthroat atmosphere of broadcast news, one could spend days or weeks pitching a story and not get on the air. Fortunately, MSNBC needed to fill hours and hours of live programming.
