How CBS Sunday Morning strives to “put the Sunday edition of the New York Times on TV”
In early May, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to New York City to visit 16 different media organizations with the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC).
One of these organizations was CBS Sunday Morning.
CBS Sunday Morning, is a weekend news broadcast show that has been on air since 1979. It focuses on arts and culture feature pieces, and features work from six correspondents, contributors, 20 producers and host Jane Pauley.
CBS Sunday Morning 一 as it was explained to us 一 seeks to put the Sunday edition of the New York Times on television screens each week.
We were lucky enough to meet with Jon Carras, an Emmy Award winning producer of the CBS Sunday Morning show.
When speaking about the show’s culture, Jon heavily emphasized that producing stories that will be talked about is extremely important.
He wants families to sit around the television on Sunday morning to watch the show and enjoy what they’re watching.
Jon also says that the show always wants new ideas because anything could turn into a great story.
For instance, Jon recalled a profile segment about Jill Biden 一 Vice President Joe Biden’s Wife 一 who was teaching at local community colleges while balancing her duties as Second Lady of the United States.
Jon explained this segment was inspired by a conversation with a cab driver who had heard about Dr. Biden’s work.
Jon, who is also a 2002 University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication alumni, spoke about his journey from the SOJC to his position as a producer for a network show nearly 16 years ago.
Six pieces of career advice Jon gave us:
- It’s important to have good news judgement and know how to build a story. These skills 一 as in Jon’s case 一 are usually mastered while working in a local TV news station environment.
- The working hours in TV news can be brutal, but rewarding. Working hard and mastering your skills, allows you to lay the foundation to go a long way.
- Make yourself valuable. Put your fingers everywhere and broaden your skills. Do internships everywhere.
- Make yourself known and stay in touch with your connections. You never know if they will come in handy when you’re looking for a job in the future.
- Curiosity is key. There’s always more stories to tell.
- Always be prepared to throw story ideas away. You can’t control when a story falls apart.
Key Reflections
As a broadcast journalism student, visiting CBS Sunday Morning was a surreal moment for me.
Although the people working on network productions obviously have more experience than us college students, the process it takes to put together a professional broadcast is no different than us doing it in school.
I realized that I need to take advantage of my time at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication because the skills I am perfecting now will be more than useful when I graduate.
During a time where I am still learning and I have to room to make mistakes, I should be more than focused on trying to perfect my craft.
Therefore, my biggest takeaway was that as long as you work hard and love what you do, you will master the skills you need to work in a huge network newsroom like CBS.
The dreams we have as young journalists are more within our grasp, than we think they are, and visiting CBS Sunday Morning reinforced that for me.
