Brittany Smith

11/11/13
Mahon
Assignment #11
Ted Anthony

AP Editor Ted Anthony shares some words of advice to aspiring writers, stemming
from 20+ years of experience

In 1980s, a math teacher who murdered of one of his students broke out of jail
with help from a lover on the outside in central Pennsylvania. Ted Anthony spent time
and wrote a full-page article about this in the Daily Collegian, as one of individuals
involved was a Penn State student. The next day, students in Anthonys class were all
talking about what happened and discussing the story without even noticing one of their
own classmates had written the article. Anthony realizing he could actually have the
power to get people talking, stated this was one of the proudest moments of his career
and the day he realized he wanted to seriously pursue a career in journalism.
In the end, thats the goal. You are going to have to tell good stories and tell good
stories that make people talk, stated Anthony, who now writes for the Associated Press,
25 years after his famous Daily Collegian article. Anthony first got his start, writing for
the Harrisburg Patriot-News but always wanted to work for AP as he admired how AP
puts their profits into improving ways to deliver news. Anthony finally got his wish in
1992, filling a nine-month temp position doing broadcast re-writes in Charleston, WV. He

has now worked for AP for 21 years, bouncing around different departments and bureaus
in multiple countries throughout his career.
Anthony partially grew up in China, moving in 1979 with his family
where he went to school in Beijing for a couple of years. Although he claimed at the time,
he was angry with his parents for making him move, the oversees move ended up
benefiting Anthonys career later on in the future. Anthony was assigned foreign
correspondent for Beijing by AP in 2001 and eventually became AP Chinas news editor
in 2002.
One of the most interesting places Anthony said he had the pleasure of traveling
to was Baghdad when he was ordered in 2003 to travel there for two and a half months to
re-open an AP bureau. Although interesting, his trip also had its fair share of danger as he
had to have security on three different levels of the hotel he was staying in to prevent
random attacks. While talking about his time at Baghdad, he did touch upon the topic of
the more extreme journalism, stating his opinion as no story is worth someones life
referring to whether it is himself or others. There are stories worth taking risks, worth
being uncomfortable for, but no stories worth dying for, he expanded.
From being a Beijing correspondent to opening a new AP bureau in Baghdad,
Anthony has had his fair share of traveling which he considers one of the favorite parts of
his career, as it allows him to travel to different places and tell peoples stories who
couldve possibly never been heard. His mother has even said the best part of journalism
is that education never ends, and that you are basically being paid to learn more about
the world.

He also touched upon another highly debated topic in the field, which is the future
of journalism and the news. Writers, critics and journalists alike have debated how
relevant the news will be in the future, give the rapid growth of social media use but
Anthony did not seem to worried about it, emphasizing that we have gotten too caught
up in the containers that media comes in and that people will always go back to the
things that inform, enlighten and can be shared socially with friends. He recommended
that the solution should be writers spending the energy on the journalism itself instead of
where/how the news will be delivered.
Anthony, also a former Penn State student, gave aspiring writers a few words of
advice he has gathered from his 20+ years of experience. One of the biggest worries for
Journalism majors in this age is the issue of getting a solid job after graduating from
college. Anthony urged aspiring students not to worry too much, saying it may not be
the golden age of hiring journalists but it is definitely the golden age of media.
He, lastly, touched upon five points he considers important in his field of work:
Staying both visual and verbal when it comes to your writing as both forms will always
be important in journalism. Getting uncomfortable and stepping outside the box to
improve upon yourself and your stories. Being counterintuitive and looking at
situations and stories from different perspectives. Getting deeper with storytelling and
being detailed, as depth will never be overlooked or overrated and finally, he stressed
remembering to be kind as you can lose perspective when you are so focused on
getting the story.