Eight Elon School of Communications students met on campus with veteran CBS News “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl on Jan. 6, gaining her insights about journalism and her advice about starting their careers.
Stahl was on campus to conduct an interview for an upcoming “60 Minutes” report on the problems with eyewitness identification in criminal prosecution. Following her interview in Johnston Hall, Stahl met with the students, discussing the ways she prepares for stories and conducts interviews, the challenges in working for the legendary news magazine show, and the best strategies for launching a career in journalism.
Stahl joined “60 Minutes” in 1991. She served as the CBS News White House correspondent during the Carter, Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies, and was moderator of CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” She has won many Emmy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Emmy given in 2003.
Stahl’s “60 Minutes” reports “How He Won the War,” about former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s battle with the tobacco industry, and “Punishing Saddam,” which exposed the plight of Iraqi citizens, mostly children, suffering the effects of the United Nations sanctions against Iraq, were both Emmy winners. “Punishing Saddam” also won Stahl a prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award.
The students who met with Stahl included the following:
Olivia Hubert-Allen, senior journalism and political science major and former editor of The Pendulum.
Anne Nicholson, senior broadcast communications major
Maura McGrath, senior broadcast communications major
Kevin Kline, senior broadcast communications major and former news director of Phoenix14 News
Mitch Pittman, senior broadcast communications major
Andie Diemer, junior journalism major and editor of The Pendulum
Drew Smith, sophomore broadcast journalism major and news director of Phoenix14 News
Eugene Daniel, sophomore broadcast communications major
Stahl was joined by two producers and a four-member video production team for the interview, which will be included in a story scheduled to air in March. The story centers on Elon alumna Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton, a former local resident who was wrongly convicted of raping Thompson-Cannino in 1984. His conviction was based on her mistaken eyewitness testimony, and he spent 11 years in prison before being exonerated through the use of DNA testing. Stahl interviewed Cotton on the Elon campus and interviewed Thompson-Cannino and others associated with the story at other locations in the region.
Thompson-Cannino and Cotton became good friends and outspoken advocates for reform in the use of eyewitness identification. Together, they successfully lobbied state legislators to change compensation laws for the wrongly convicted in North Carolina. The two have co-authored a new book with writer Erin Torneo titled “Picking Cotton: A True Story,” which is due to be published in March.
