On October 28th, members of The Scituation journalism staff attended a talk with Bob Schieffer, formerly of CBS Evening News, at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. Following a tour of the library’s extensive archives and exhibits detailing the life of former president John F Kennedy, staff members sat down to listen to WBZ News’s Lisa Hughes conduct an interview with the longtime broadcast journalist, a veteran of 24 years at CBS’s Face the Nation program.

Schieffer touched on issues such as the modern political races, stories from covering Vietnam, and his advice for aspiring journalists. Describing modern journalism as in a “crisis mode,” Schieffer addressed the shifting state of journalism. He also emphasized the importance of free independent news journalism to American democracy. Schieffer said, “There will always be a need for independently gathered information. I think the country will always have a need for reporters.”  Additionally, Schieffer had advice to give journalists: “When reporters do this job right, it’s not rocket science, it’s just simply about going out, finding what’s happened, and telling people in language that they can understand.”