Journalist speaks about past experience

The Buskirk-Chumley Theater erupted in applause Monday night after former CNN correspondent Andrea Koppel brought her experiences from China to Bloomington. \nKoppel’s lecture, “The Accidental Journalist,” was the first of the IU School of Journalism’s spring Speaker Series. Koppel has reported from several different posts in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, but Monday she spoke mostly about her time in China. \nKoppel began her speech with quirky narratives about how she rejected the idea of living in the shadow of her father, former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel. Koppel said it wasn’t “until I was thousands of miles away from my father’s shadow that I thought of being a journalist.” \nKoppel kept the audience on edge by jumping from silly stories about how she pretended she didn’t know how to speak Chinese when stopped by the Chinese police to more emotional stories, such as talking about a man who suffered because of lack of health care under the Communist regime. People she interviewed ranged from store clerks to Chinese hostages.\n“There were four Chinese women who were virtual hostages being kept in a hotel room, held there for about a year ... because they tried to enter America illegally,” Koppel said during her speech. “Because I was able to speak Chinese, I was able to tell their story.”\nKoppel’s speech lasted about an hour and was followed by a question and answer session with the audience, though only three people asked questions before the event wrapped up.\nJunior James McFadden, a journalism student, said Koppel’s experiences were intriguing and motivational and helped broaden his understanding of world events.\n“It was interesting how she explained the different ways of getting around the Chinese government,” McFadden said. “It basically shows you that a reporter has to do what they need to in order to get the story, even getting questioned by \nthe government.”\nAlthough many students said Koppel’s speech was interesting, some left the theater disappointed and with unanswered questions, including freshman Kimberly Doty. \n“There were so many things that she could have spoke about,” Doty said. “She didn’t speak about (Libyan leader) Muammar al-Gaddafi or interviewing Condoleezza Rice. There were so many stories I was anticipating, but didn’t receive.” \nBloomington resident Janet Wingard said although Koppel didn’t speak about all of her journalistic experiences, the stories Koppel \ndescribed were still interesting.\n“China is a major force in the world,” Wingard said, “and she showed that we need to pay attention to them. Her stories brought a lot to the people’s attention.”