ABOUT BONNIE
Bonnie M. Anderson, president of the Anderson Media Agency, Inc., is a 27-year veteran of print, radio, internet and television journalism in English and in Spanish. She has worked on camera for local, national and international news corporations, including two decades with NBC News and CNN. Anderson won seven Emmy Awards, was finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has been nominated for the Maria Coors Cabot Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by Columbia University.
As Managing Editor of the CNN en Espanol network, Anderson supervised newsgathering staff, including correspondents, producers and camera crews. As Vice President of the CNN News Group, she recruited and coached on- and off-air personnel. Anderson previously served as a national correspondent for CNN, where she covered such top breaking news stories as the Oklahoma City bombing, the Los Angeles earthquake, Pope John Paul II’s visit to Denver, Hurricane Andrew in South Florida, the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco and the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. As a foreign correspondent for NBC News, Anderson was one of the first women war correspondents. She reported from over 100 countries covering stories such as the civil wars in El Salavador, Nicaragua and Lebanon, the famine and civil war in Ethiopia, the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf War.
Anderson also worked at The Miami Herald and The Miami News.
The Anderson Media Agency, Inc. offers a broad range of media-related services for individuals, corporations, government officials and journalists. We specialize in preparing men and women for effective tele-conferencing, public speaking and on-camera work as television news reporters, company public relations and communications officers, as well as spokespeople in television advertisements. Learn how to communicate on camera, in a conference room or before large crowds in a compelling, captivating but natural manner.
The Anderson Media Agency offers coaching in voice control and inflection, pacing, breath control, TelePrompTer reading, confidence building techniques, script writing, anchoring, audio tracking and on-camera performance.
Anderson Enters Hall of Achievement
Bonnie Anderson (BSJ77), who has won seven Emmy Awards, "plowed and paved the road" for women to be foreign correspondents, said Dean Ken Bode.
Bonnie Anderson knew she wanted to be a foreign correspondent at age 17. Since her 1977 graduation from Medill, Anderson has reported from more than 100 countries as a correspondent for CNN and NBC."I knew that I was in love with the work and the lives of foreign correspondents, and I knew that's what I wanted to be," she said.
Anderson work has garnered numerous accolades, including seven Emmy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize nomination for feature writing, for which she was a finalist. On Monday night, Medill invited Anderson back to honor her with induction into its esteemed Hall of Achievement.
"This school fed my curiosity, it honored my calling, it encouraged my drive," Anderson told Medill faculty, students, staff, donors and board members at the annual Board of Visitors and Hall of Achievement Dinner. "I'll always be extremely grateful to this school." Founded in 1997, the Hall of Achievement now has 94 members who have made particularly noteworthy contributions to the journalism field.
"This school fed my curiosity, it honored my calling, it encouraged my drive," Anderson told Medill faculty, students, staff, donors and board members.
Dean Ken Bode, a former colleague of Anderson's, said she had "plowed and paved the road" for women to become foreign correspondents."Bonnie Anderson covered all sorts of war zones around the world," he said. "She gained the deepest admiration of her colleagues in her service to the network and to the profession."
Now vice president in charge of recruiting and talent development for the CNN News Group, Anderson said she is sometimes troubled by young people's motives for wanting to enter the journalism profession.
"More often than not, I hear the right answers," she said. "But more often than I'd like, I hear answers that disturb me: 'I want to put on makeup, look pretty, talk out loud, make a lot of money, and be the center of attention.' "
Anderson said she bluntly told one such applicant to find another calling. "It's up to us to be the gate-keepers," she said. "We've seen enough degradation already." Aspiring journalists should view the profession as "an incredible opportunity to tell the stories of the people of the world."
