I saw how many people were poor and how many kids my age went to school hungry in the morning, which I don't think most of my contemporaries in racially segregated schools in the South thought very much about at the time.

I recognize that I had a good deal of good luck in my life. I came along at a time when it was pretty easy to get a job in journalism. I went to work at CBS News when I was about 22, and within a year or so was reporting on the air.

A true Southerner will never say in 2-3 words what can better be said in 10-12.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.

In television, everything is gone with the speed of light, literally. It is no field for anybody with intimations of immortality.

I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a reporter. I don't know where I got the idea that it was a romantic calling.

Rivers run through our history and folklore, and link us as a people. They nourish and refresh us and provide a home for dazzling varieties of fish and wildlife and trees and plants of every sort. We are a nation rich in rivers.