It’s been a week in New York and my head is jammed with tales to tell; it was hard work figuring out the focus for today’s comment as a lot has happened since I landed at JFK Airport on Monday afternoon. I am awake in my room on the tenth floor of Hilton Garden Inn, West 35th street of New York; it’s 12:20am Friday night (7:20am Saturday Morning in Kigali) and I’m hunched on the reading table typing away on my notebook. But I can’t focus; my mind is on the big warm bed a few inches behind me and I am feeling cold although fully dressed. Outside, it’s extremely cold, marking the start of New York’s long winter, by next week, I’m told it will be worse and I can’t wait to get out of here and back to the warm sun home. New York is a great city, a global power centre but it is also the wrong place to be homeless. Unfortunately, there are many homeless fellows out here, wrapped up in whatever garments they can find but still teetering from the harsh coldness. Many of these street folks smoke endlessly trying to suck in warmth, it’s hard to understand how they get by. An estimated 3,357 people were living on the streets, in city parks and other areas during an annual survey conducted in January this year; sad isn’t it? In Africa, it’s hard to be homeless with all the relatives, family friends and in-laws, one can always find a place to sleep…and even for the few homeless; they don’t have to suffer too many nights of extreme coldness. Yet and ironically so, many often sell off their assets to come to these cities, few really make it, majority end up homeless on these ruthlessly cold streets. Away from New York’s homeless people, my Friday was great because I visited two great places, met two great people and heard two great stories. The day begun with a long train ride from Stony Brook University located on the beautiful and forested Long Island to the New York City centre. My guides, two award winning former long career journalists who are now lecturing at Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism, took me to CBS broadcast centre where I was honoured to meet Jeff Fager, Chairman CBS news and executive producer of the legendary 60 minutes. Fager is one of journalism’s few remaining true defenders of hard news in an era where commercials have become top priority. Since stepping in as Chairman of CBS News, Fager vowed to “restore CBS News to where it should be, where it needs to be,” using the original reporting and storytelling of 60 Minutes as a benchmark for its other flagship news programs. Fager who is 59 years old says he joined CBS 33 years ago starting as a cleaner though he was an English major graduate. With his English skills, one day, many years ago, he volunteered to write script for a radio anchor at CBS from where he has risen to become one of United State’s best producers with dozens of top awards to his name. Going by ratings, 60 Minutes, created in 1968, is the most successful program in US television history; it’s currently most viewed and has won a record total of 106 Emmy awards and countless others. The secret, Fager says, ‘we promise only fairness, we don’t bribe sources for a story.” I sat in the room where they pitch story ideas, visited the production studio and met all the show’s producers and some of the anchors…their latest assignment airs this weekend and it’s on Ebola in West Africa. Next, I went to Al-Jazeera America (AJAM) where I met another news maharishi with an astonishing story. Marcy McGinnis, Al-Jazeera America Senior Vice President for news gathering is a diminutive woman but she says that’s exactly what inspired her to greatness. She started off at CBS as a secretary at a time when it was hard for females to get top executive jobs at top media houses. Her formula to greatness was simple, ‘be the best at everything I did’ and it has paid off. From Secretary, she has risen to the top. Prior to joining AJAM, McGinnis was the Associate Dean of Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism where she helped create the broadcast journalism program, oversaw curriculum development, faculty recruitment, fundraising, strategic planning, student recruitment and retention as well as career preparation and job placement initiatives. The accomplishments of these two great people are the reason why today’s young graduates should trust in patience and hard work en route to making it big.
