By Elizabeth Condall
Martha Raddatz is a reporter and journalist who’s been working as a news reporter for over thirty years.
Students were able to meet her at The Cardinal in North Hills.
Raddatz is currently the ABC New Global Correspondent. She was in Raleigh for a speaking engagement at The Cardinal to talk to residents about her experience covering national security, politics and wars in the Middle East.
Raddatz was in Washington D.C. at the capitol during the January 6th attack. A mob of supporters for Donald Trump ransacked the capitol after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election two months prior.
Raddatz was there front and center with her camera crew and her security who weren’t armed. She told the students she was more trained for a situation like that and was directing her security.
“That was truly the hardest day,” said Raddatz.
She spoke about how she brought a family from Iran to the states because the father was one of her contacts during the U.S. and Iran conflict.
The family is thriving in Washington D.C., “the red tape was a nightmare,”
Jaelynn Berry, a junior SGD and communication major, attended the meeting.
“Martha taught me that being a journalist takes courage and a steady mindset,” said Berry.
Raddatz has been working with and advocating for veterans for decades. She wrote a book in 2007 titled “The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family.” The book centers around The First Cavalry Division coming under surprise attack in Sadr City, a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq.
The attack happened April 4, 2004 and is now known as “Black Sunday.” The families awaited news for 48 hours, Raddatz shares tales of heroism and war.
She told Peace students that she’d been reporting in war zones worldwide.
“It’s important to care about people…telling their stories makes a difference,” said Raddatz.
Although Raddatz dropped out of college, she laughed and told Peace students not to do the same.
“Curiosity is important in this line of work,” said Raddatz.
There were some students who were interested in pursuing journalism.
“Just keep learning, you have to have experience and have some depth,” said Raddatz.
Raddatz quoted the ABC motto “It’s straightforward news that that’s what we try to do,” and made sure students understood that journalists are opinion writers and “disciplined curiosity” is required to do the job.
“It [journalism] also doesn’t come easy, you definitely have to work hard for where you want to be,” said Berry.
The Cardinal catered Panera Bread for the students and offered us to take more of the food to go. The students were greeted by the staff with a red carpet, originally meant for Raddatz.
The meeting with Raddatz finished with her answering questions some of the students had.
She joked that if students didn’t have any questions they were in the wrong line of business.
“I loved meeting Martha and listening to her different stories and personal experiences of how she reached where she is now,” said Berry.
Raddatz left the students with a nuggets of wisdom before she left to continue her promotional activities, “History is the biggest lesson learner or sometimes lessons not learned.”