CNN Reporter & Marshall Alum Inspires Honors Students to Ethically Reach for Greatness by Challenging the Facts

Having started a broadcast-journalism career at WSAZ-TV, Johns certainly chose not to go down “where the pathway leads.” No, as the Robert Emerson quote challenges, “go elsewhere and leave a trail.”

He’s carved and blazed a  journalism career that’s taken him to the field nationally and internationally  , as well as the anchor desk at CNN.

His life and career learning time at MU uniquely taught “undergraduate research,” which meant carrying note cards and sitting on the floor in the bowels of the Morrow Library with two or three heavy, dusty volumes in his lap and writing notes into the wee hours. Then, he could go to the dorm and use his high school graduation gift --- an electric typewriter, which meant woe to anyone who screwed up a footnote.

“I went on dates in the library to read,” Johns laughed.

Facing an extemporaneous speech competition in which you have 30 minutes after drawing a topic to prepare and deliver a seven minute talk with confidence, Johns told of sweating out a pick of which he knew nothing ---  “Explain and Explore the balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

Telling of his dilemma possessing the gestures and vocal inflections of a master storyteller, the then young college student compared the countdown to speaking to “something bad happening in a science-fiction movie where a voice keeps coming on warning , you have 15 minutes until self-destruction.”

Although a fellow debater with notes from a news magazine saved him from embarrassment, ironically, Johns said that Google has turned research into 243,000 results in eight tenths of a second.

“It’s almost too much information,” he suggested, adding that his inbox has about “23,000 emails.”

However, the deluge of data  still favors someone who “cuts their teeth on undergraduate research.” Instead of digging for more and more information, the man who covered the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, the anthrax mailings that following the September 11 terrorist attack, and WV’s 2006 Sago mine disaster that claimed twelve lives explained that you must read, develop questions, talk to original sources and develop your own statistics.

“I try to go to the source and test the hypothesis, but that started in my years at Marshall University.”

Prior to joining CNN where he reports on government accountability, he covered Capitol Hill for NBC-TV.

Johns has a set of “little rules” for evaluating information. The alphabetic series begins with the accountability of the source.  With his job that means a “fact check” on whether a politician’s statements are “absolute truth,” and a “follow the taxpayer’s money”  to determine credibility of the source.

“Where is the money going he asks?” Journalists must glean differences between facts, assertion, and options versus what has been verified through reliable sources.

Though he did not share his full A-Z list of “do’s’ ,he dwelled on the significance of “all of us are interconnected,” which builds on the value of relationships.

Demonstrating the intertwining of pulling skills together, he told of reporting to work in Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001.  The first word was that a small plane had hit the Trade Center.  Fact checking revealed a 767. He had just gotten into his seat at work when  the Pentagon exploded.

A winner of the Edward R Murrow Award and an Emmy, Johns call to graduates and students alike placed one of his highest values on  relationships to other people.  "You can think about the relationship with the person sitting next to you, the person across the room, or the person down the street and how they could be affected if you do the right thing or the wrong thing."

As an example, he pointed to the rise of Middle East revolutions. In his words, “what happened? The people finally rose against the dictators and wanted more rights.”

Here, social networking systems, such as Facebook and Twitter receive credit.

He told of speaking with “people who want to be free” but before the internet dying in silence did not bring change. Now, in a 24/7 world of near instant communication in which anyone can be a “reporter,” the oppressed now stand up and face death. Why? “Now, we can tell the world,” he paraphrased their answers for demanding freedom, for if they perish, their deaths will be witnessed by millions be it streamed on the internet or bounced off satellites for news broadcasts.

Facing such a demanding gatekeeping post, Johns the speech thought deeply when asked if he preferred anchoring to reporting in the field. The winner of two National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence awards, paused, and gave an either or styled answer. 

Under some conditions, the anchor imparts the news to viewers. However, in a ‘breaking news’ scenario, the anchor has command of digging facts out during phone interviews. On the other hand, the  field reporter has the responsibility for gathering and assessing the thesis that becomes the story.  Both are interconnected.

And, for Johns, whether breaking a keeping them honest story on Anderson Cooper 360 or delivering a stand up in the field, he’s committed to bleeding the green that binds even as We Are Marshall.