From Vietnam to Space to the Classroom

Fourty-seven years is a long time...even my own mother isn't 47 years young, yet! But for Jeff Gralnick, 47 years equates to a laundry list resume that is full of lifetime broadcasting experiences. And these experiences are not ordinary in any sense, as most broadcast journalists yearn to even have a fraction of what Gralnick has seen.

One right that Gralnick has to brag is his work experience with the big three (ABC, CBS, and NBC). According to his employer, MSNBC's website, Gralnick has notably...

• Reported on the field in Vietnam for CBS News
• Served as a Vice President and Executive Producer for ABC's World News Tonight
• Served as an Executive Producer of NBC's Nightly News with Tom Brokaw
• Served as an Executive overlooking the creation of ABCNews.com
• Covered Astronaut Alan Shepard's mission in 1961
• Produced the coverage for every U.S. space flight through Apollo 11
• Covered man's return to space in 1988 after the space shuttle Challenger's accident

Gralnick's shelf is crowded with gold as he's become the receipient of many emmy awards, according to Consumer Reports. Several of these recognitions were earned for his journalistic efforts during the 1991 Gulf War, and 1992 presidential election. His nearly five decades of excellence in the field makes him a modern-day Walter Cronkite.

As a graduate of New York University and an adjunct professor of new media at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, Gralnick is sure to be familiar with the NYC metro area -- including Fairfield University. He is scheduled to speak at Fairfield's campus on Wednesday April 5th.

When he makes his visit, I will pose these two questions to him:

1. During your experiences in covering the Vietnam war, did you have a pro or anti-war stance? Did either of these stances pose difficulty in doing your job as an unbiased journalist? This question intrigues me as I am of Vietnamese descent and am always curious as to what people thought of the war, as well as how much it personally affected them.
   
2. If you had to choose your most and least favorite experiences during your 47 years - what would they be? I want to see if he is able to choose two moments throughout his vast career or if he will cop out and say he enjoyed every single minute of it.
   

It will be a pleasure for our Digital Writing class to become enlightened by his presence when he comes and speaks to us.