Creighton University - Bluejay Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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Mary Alice Williams, vice president and an- chorwoman for Cable News Network (CNN) in New York, visited Creighton in February and spoke to two journalism classes, answering questions about the life of a television jour- nalist. Williams was a 1971 Creighton graduate and was in Omaha before going to Lincoln for the posthumous induction of her uncle, the Rev. Roswell C. Williams, S.J., into the Nebraska Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. Williams answered questions in both classes concerning her work, how she began and the future for young aspiring journalists. Society is not the sme as it was in the 1970s, she said. You (student journalists) have an advantage because you ' re competiung on your own merits regardless of your color, background, age or sex. It ' s a much better way to compete. When asked how she began in journalism, WilHams said I wanted to write a novel. She said she was als o influenced by her uncle, Creighton ' s television priest. I wanted to be a witness, meet these peo- ple, she said. Besides reporting, Williams runs the New York Bureau of CNN, setting policy and work- ing in sales. She said, though, much of her work is not reporting and it ' s not all glamorous. Many decisions or problems are routine, such as making sure the hall in the studio has been painted, she said. But she said, It ' s all fun, and she enjoys meeting the people who make decisions over budgets and deficits, referring to the world ' s newsmakers. After graduating from Creighton, Williams went to KSTP-TV in St. Paul, Minn., as the newscast producer. At that time there were few women in television, she said. She then went to New York and became a writer at WPIX-TV. She left two years later to become a television news reporter at WNBC- TV, the NBC a ffiliate in New York. In 1980, Williams joined up with Ted Turner in a seven-person project forming CNN, of which she became bureau chief. Two years later she became vice president. Williams said that Creighton prepared her well for her career, and that the school has an excellent reputation through the country. She said the school encourages leadership and trhat the small group competitiveness and interac- tion is much more intense. Creighton, she said, also taught her how to think, study and take a test. Everything ' s a test, she said. Through Creighton ' s training, I can look at myself in the mirror and say how well I did, or if I blew it today. Mary Alice wm ams 26

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Turner Increasing involvement by the United States in covert activities stirred both question and concern here and in the eyes of the world. A covert action is an effort by a govern- ment to influence the course of events in another country without being identified. Admiral Stansfield Turner, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, defended the role the CIA plays in covert activities. He addressed the terrorism in Beirut, Lebanon and the U.S. support of the Contras against the ruling Sandininsta regime in Nicaragua as two areas of specific concern today. Turner described terrorism as a growing concern and said while it is unfortunate that it exists, the issue is what the United States can do to stop it. The CIA spies in efforts to find where and when terrorism will strike. Turner said. The agency uses satellites and electrical eavesdrop- ping instruments in addition to agents to gather this information. Turner said the CIA uses agents predominantly to infiltrate a ter- rorist regime. Turner said terrorism is not impossible to control. He advocates a three-fold method. In addition to CIA efforts he recommends an in- crease in both reliance on local circuits and physical defense. A local network consists of an area ' s police and their contacts who often tip the CIA off about unusual activity in a region. Only local people can do this, he said. Increased defense spending when the U.S. currently boasts a record budget deficit is at best controversial. Turner said it is necessary and cited the second bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut as proof that there is a need for an increase in physical defense. Many people do not realize that the CIA ' s main function is to collect information and is not to enforce foreign policy. Turner said. However, when covert action is involved the CIA is called to act in three ways, he said. The agency publishes propaganda in newspapers to sway public opinion. The CIA takes political action through its support of governments that favor democracy, and gives para-military ac- tion by supplying arms. There ' s one stipulation on CIA involvement in covert actions. The CIA shall not directly or by influence participate in assassinations, Turner said. Turner ' s talk coincided with the discovery of a CIA manual containing procedures for assassination. Turner did not comment on the manual. However, President Reagan denounc- ed the implications that the CIA has been in- volved with any type of assassinations now or in the past. The CIA does not have carte blanc to in- volve itself in covert activities. Turner said. A system of checks monitors the agency. The president is briefed on each action and must give his permission to a covert act. Turner is a Rhodes Scholar and prior to his service as CIA director he served as Com- mander, U.S. Second Fleet, and Commander in Chief of NATO ' s Southern Fleet. Mary Kate Wells 27