Cal Thomas hosts talks

Columnist, author and political commentator Cal Thomas spoke Wednesday, March 19, at the Jerry Falwell Library to a group of students and staff about journalism. He told his personal story and gave students advice from his experiences.

“I started in radio when I was 16, two weeks after my voice changed,” Thomas said, with crowd laughter quickly following the statement.

Thomas has never questioned the career path he chose, and he made that clear to students.

“I knew really early that this was what I wanted to do,” Thomas said. “I was very fortunate.”

Two years later, at the age of 18, Thomas joined NBC as a copy boy. Thomas said he used this smaller job as a way to work up to the position he wanted — a network correspondent.

“I was in the door,” Thomas said. “This is the most important thing. If you have to become a janitor, if you have to clean toilets at night on the overnight shift, get in the door of wherever it is you want to be. You can’t do anything outside the door. But once you get in the door, you can impress people with your work ethic and desire to learn.”

Thomas said he took home scripts at night to learn more about writing.

“I learned more on the job than I ever learned in a classroom,” Thomas said. “Real experience is better than theory every time.”

Thomas wanted to be a network correspondent by age 30, and he was determined to accomplish his goal. Every year on his birthday, Dec. 2, Thomas said he checked in with his goals to see if he was on track.

And he was.

Eventually, he became one of the youngest anchors on NBC radio and television. But, his career suffered a blow in 1973, and he was fired from NBC. At the time Thomas was fired, he had become increasingly interested in Christianity.

“(Getting fired) was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me, because it forced me to choose,” Thomas said.

At the National Prayer Breakfast office where his wife worked, Thomas heard a powerful speech by a federal judge who said everyone can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which sparked his interest.

Thomas and his wife began attending a Bible study, where his curiosity in following Jesus grew.

“God began to work some things into my life,” Thomas said. “First, he worked me out of my life in order to have space for himself.”

In 1983, Thomas wrote a column for the first time in his life. He took it to the New York Times, who, to his surprise, printed the column, which he now has framed in his house.

The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times also printed columns Thomas sent in before he was officially hired at the Los Angeles Times to write a column twice a week.
Since then, Thomas has written several books, appears on Fox News regularly and continues to write his column. April 17 will mark Thomas’s 31st year writing for the Times organization.

Thomas gave advice to all students on how to handle coworkers with egos.

“Ego covers up a deep sense of insecurity,” Thomas said. “That’s where you in a newsroom, or wherever God places you, can have the biggest affect on other lives.”

Thomas gave specific advice to students concerning being a Christian in the media industry.

“If you are a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, realize that the most important thing you do is that you’re carrying him around in you,” Thomas said. “You’re taking him where he wants to go.”

Additionally, Thomas said the only solution to solve America’s problems is God.

“We have tried everything,” Thomas said. “We’ve tried liberals and conservatives and republicans and democrats and white papers and blue ribbon commissions and study groups and the best and the brightest, and we can’t solve some basic problems. The one thing we’ve left out is trying God.”

Thomas ended the speech by saying Christian journalists bring a different perspective to their job that nonbelievers will never have.

FRASER is a feature reporter.