The conviction of being a business journalist

Margaret Brennan of Bloomberg Television was interviewed by Eoin Butler of the Irish Times about her career and current business issues.

Here is an excerpt:

You’ve worked in news for 10 years. While still in your 20s, you produced interviews with George W Bush for CNBC. What were the particular pressures of an assignment like that?

Going into the White House as a 24- or 25-year-old producer was a tremendous education for me. It was my grad school. I couldn’t do what I do now if I hadn’t worked behind the camera. At the time, we were talking about privatising social security, something that ultimately didn’t happen. It was pre-financial crisis and, looking back now, it was a very different world.

Joining Bloomberg News at the time of the financial crisis must have been a bit like joining the Weather Channel during a hurricane.

It was, I guess. But the crisis also gave me a lot more conviction about what I wanted to do. I came to believe that business news should be on the front page for every single household in America.

You anchored from Tahir Square during the Egyptian uprising. Considering the experience of other female journalists, did you feel safe there?

When I was in Tahir, the people were in a very celebratory mood. I can speak Arabic and felt totally comfortable in those surroundings.

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