Major Garrett at FAU on Reporting the Facts and Getting Out of the Way<br/>

*‘Fireside’ Chat in Paradise with FAU President Adam Hasner and CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent*

Long before podcasts and panels, there was the newsroom feed.

That’s where I first encountered Major Garrett’s work… through the teleprompter in a small Lake Charles, Louisiana newsroom in 2002. He was covering Washington. I was anchoring local news. His reports would roll down on the newsroom feed and from our southwest Louisiana studio, I’d send viewers to Capitol Hill or wherever else he was reporting from around the world.

Two decades later, I found myself listening to him in person. Not from the anchor desk or control room, but in an auditorium at Florida Atlantic University as President Adam Hasner led a fireside chat with one of America’s most respected political journalists. Here’s what I took away, courtesy of Major Garrett:

**“People care and if you do it well, it has lasting value.”**

Major Garrett on Journalism

1. “Report the facts and get out of the way.”
Simple. Clear. Harder than it sounds. In an era of noise, speed and opinion, his north star hasn’t changed.

2. Don’t emotionally invest in politicians.
They’re not worth our emotional core.

3. Don’t chase virality. Chase value.
Political journalism has become a commodity. Audiences can pick their brand. Everyone has a phone. Everyone is a witness. But if you do it well? It lasts.

4. Early career lessons stay with you.
Knocking on doors after tragedies. Talking to grieving families. Covering plane crashes. This is what many of us journalists have to do - some at the start, some throughout their entire career. What we all need to remember is…“Your life is in one place and then, in a split second, it can be in another.”

5. Passion projects are real.
The work that sustains you matters.

Garrett’s career has taken him from local reporting in Amarillo, Las Vegas and Houston to covering his first presidential campaign in 1992, to traveling with President George W. Bush on 9/11, to serving as senior White House correspondent and now chief Washington correspondent at CBS News. He is the author of five books and also created and continues to lead The Takeout with Major Garrett, a nightly streaming show on politics, policy and pop culture available on CBS News 24/7 and all podcast platforms.

For a community like ours, events like this matter… reminders to stay curious and to keep learning from people who have done the work and continue to do so.

Thank you to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at FAU.