John King, anchor of CNN's new night-time program and a chief national correspondent, will be the keynote speaker at the University of Rhode Island's undergraduate ceremonies on May 23 and will receive a honorary doctorate of humane letters. The ceremonies begin at noon on the Kingston campus' quadrangle.
King, who graduated from URI in 1985, had previously been anchor of State of the Union, a Sunday news program. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he rose to prominence with his use of CNN's "magic wall,'' a touch screen that allowed users to tabulate election votes and demographics.
Source: Providence Journal, CNN's John King to speak at URI commencement
URI's Student News Paper recently interviewed King:
After graduating, he nabbed a job with the AP, where he was up for his position against people with years of experience. He credits his "luck" in working with the AP to his willingness to prove himself-a piece of advice he'd pass along to the graduating class.
"If you trust yourself, don't be afraid to start a few rungs on the ladder below," he said. "You have to be on the ladder to climb the ladder."
In a tough job market, which was similar to what King faced when he entered the workforce, he said it's important for graduates to be flexible. While seniors may need to have a "plan b," whether it's graduate school, taking a year off or trying a different type of job, King said they should be optimistic about their future.
"If you have to delay your dreams, delay does not mean abandon," he said. "I know it's hard, but it's a time of transition…I think it's a great time to be young because things are starting to get a little bit better and opportunity is born of change-some things just take a while."
ICN has an interesting item on John King, USA.
ReplyDeleteIronically, Jon Klein thinks it is the worse show
on CNN. I can think of some others like Campbell
Brown and Rick's List. Don't get me wrong the
show could stand some improvement but it is
not King's fault that people are tired of politics
taking over the news. Even Donna Brazille thinks
it is time for the pundits to go. Jon King did not
make the decision to put another political show
on right after TSR for 2 hours.CNN messed up
big time. There will never be the level of interest
in off year elections like there was for an historic
election in 2008. Politics can't be the center
of a show following TSR. You have to have
different stories.