(photo: CBS News)
Don’t go into it because you want to be a star
By: Ariana Kraft
Veteran journalist Martha Teichner is a correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” and based in New York. Teichner’s impressive reporting on an array of national and international breaking news stories has paved the way for many.
After graduating from Wellesley College and earning a degree in economics, Teichner wasn’t sure where her place in the world was yet. However her hunger for the truth and eagerness to learn led her to her first journalism job at WJEF radio station in Grand Rapids Michigan. Little did she know down the line, her original reporting would earn her multiple national awards.
In her twenties, Teichner was working in Chicago at WMAQ. She was sent out to interview people on the worst days of their lives. In the midst of floods, shootings and violent disasters, Teichner was there speaking with those affected.
It was important that she never intruded on anyone’s privacy. Teichner developed her own approach in these intense and emotional situations. “Every single time, I would go out I would say, I understand this is an intrusion, I feel terrible that I’m even asking but if you would like to speak, would you?” she said. “And I would always do it so that I would make it easy for them to say no, hoping that they would say no…they never said no.” Teichner believes that doing the interview was cathartic for them.
Being a journalist comes with many responsibilities. “The big thing is to believe in the stories, you don’t go into it because you want to be a star,” says Teichner. She warns that being motivated by stardom is not the way to sustain a career in the industry because there will be set-backs and technological changes that will affect where and how you do your job.
Teichner reflected on the time she was based in South Africa during apartheid. There was a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa. Covering such a topic required integrity and tough decision making. Other’s depended on those decisions. “The people I worked with and I worked very hard and argued and debated over how we should go about things constantly,” Teichner said. “That period, I think, is the period of time that I’m most proud of.”
Being a reporter often requires a lot of moving around. Teichner has experienced this first hand. She has picked up and moved to work in Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, London, Dallas, Johannesburg, and finally New York, where she currently resides.
“When you’re transferred every three years or so, you just start to make friends, especially when you’re working non-stop…and then you’re uprooted,” said Teichner. She candidly states, “I believe that probably the reason I am not married and have no children is because of those sacrifices.”
The sacrifices Teichner’s made and her strong dedication to the job led to major changes within the industry. “When I first started, there weren’t very many women who were allowed to go to war,” she explains. “I was one of the very first who it became part of what I did. I’m very proud of the fact that I contributed in a small way to the ability of women now to be equal to men in terms of going to cover wars.”
Although the business of journalism is tough, Teichner says, “If you love telling stories, if you love witnessing events, watching history unfold, telling the truth, because those are passions that you have, that’s what you need to follow.”
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