What Should African American News Anchors Learn? 3 Questions with Headline News’ Richelle Carey
The
lovely and talented Richelle Carey is one of the more visible women of
color in news. She’s the morning anchor for Headline News and takes her
position as a voice for current events very seriously. The Baylor
University alum has developed an enviable career and her experiences
have served her well. –todd williams
What is one of the hardest lessons you’ve had to learn professionally?
I
[had to] be able to take criticism; I think you cannot be sensitive
about people who want to critique your work. They generally want the
best for you and if you want to continue to grow in what you do, you
have to realize that you are not perfect. There are people who came
before you, and you have to be able to seek out criticism, and absorb
what it is they have to tell you and take it with the spirit in which
it’s intended. That’s how you can progress. You have to have an open
eye and an open spirit.
What is the most demanding aspect of your job?
You’d
be surprised at how much I have to read and how much news I have to
watch when I’m not working. At any moment I have to be ready to ad-lib
and riff on any breaking news that’s happening anywhere in the world.
So my homework is to watch television — not reality TV (laughs) — I
mean the news. It is my job to read articles on the Internet, it is my
job to read books, I feel like I have to be able to have a conversation
about things because that’s what an interview is.
What do you love most about being a newscaster?
I
love feeling like I’m educating people just a little bit about
something that maybe they didn’t know before they turned on the
television. They don’t have to be able to write an article about it or
be an encyclopedia, but if they know something about another part of
the world or country, then I feel like I’ve done my job.
