Q&A With Journalist Carol Marin

Journalist Carol Marin has announced that she will make her transition from television after the Nov 3rd election. Marin began her journalism career in 1972 at WBIR-TV_in Knoxville, Tennessee. The well-respected Marin will step down as Political Editor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 and correspondent for Chicago Tonight on WTTW-Channel 11.

Born on Chicago’s South Side, Marin moved with her family to Rolling Meadows at the age of 7. She attended elementary and junior high schools in Rolling Meadows and graduated from Palatine High School and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Carol’s career began in Knoxville, Tennessee at WBIR-TV and continued at WSM-TV in Nashville where she both anchored and reported and was instrumental in the investigative reporting that ultimately led to the ouster and indictment of then-Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton. In 1978, she returned to Chicago and NBC5 News where she worked as a reporter and anchored the 6 & 10 p.m. newscasts until 1997.

An award-winning reporter, Carol has won some of journalism’s highest honors including two George Foster Peabody Awards, two du-Pont-Columbia awards and two national Emmys.

N’DIGO sat down with Carol Marin as she prepares to embark upon a new chapter of her career…

N’DIGO: How did your media career begin?

Carol Marin: It began by accident. I was living in Knoxville, Tennessee and working as an English teacher. A friend of my husband said there was a job for a talk show host and that I should apply. I went to the audition and was told to pretend that I was interviewing a famous film director. Actually he was a cameraman sitting in to pretend. He was told not to talk.

I introduced him as a famous porno film director. I got him talking as he was told not to. I got the job because I got him to talk. In 1972 I was hired as a women’s talk show host to interview and talk about silly girlie stuff. I brought the Ku Klux Klan in full uniform and continued to do serious subjects. I did not fit the profile of the girlie talk show host and was sent to news. I didn’t fit there either. They wanted me to interview women in news like the candidates wife. That was the woman’s place. I carved out a prison beat, which helped create my news career. The governor went to prison Ray Blanton. He was a Memphis Democratic.

So, how did you get to Chicago?

A talent scout told me about a job in Chicago as a weekend anchor and a daily reporter. I returned home to take that job.

How did you become interested in politics?

I credit my parents for that while growing up in Rolling Meadows. My mother was a Roosevelt Democrat and my dad was an Eisenhower Republican. We had discussions at dinner every night. My dad brought home 4 newspapers papers nightly. They really formed my interest in politics and when I got to Chicago, it was a subject that became passionate for me.

During your career, who have been your favorite mayor and/or governor?

I have no favorites. I pay attention, I observe and form no allegiance.

What stories/interviews have been your best?

I have worked closely with my producer Don Moseley. The Silver Shuffle story on politician corruption sent alderman to prison along with others. And then there was, Operation Gombak, which was the intersection of political corruption and organized crime. And while at CBS, we make a huge impression after 911and we were sent to Afghanistan.

Every ten years there is a radical technological change. When I started we were shooting film, to videotape, to microwave to satellite, to digital. I have seen massive technology changes. WE have seen a dazzling quickness to get the story on air and the quicker the less reflective we are.

Your departing the camera marks the close of an era. Why are you leaving now?

It’s time to get off the broadcast stage while I feel that we still do solid work. Some stay around too long and after awhile become jaded and burned out. I don’t want to get to that point. I want to call my own shots and exit on my own terms.

You teach journalism at De Paul University, how do you forecast the next generation of journalist?

I just left a class where we met in the park, so we could see each other and practice social distancing. We were tired of Zoom. Students are on the cusp. My producer Don Moseley and I are the co-directors of The DePaul University Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence. Our mission is to take seniors and grad students ready to graduate, ready to enter the profession and give them a deep dive into complicated reporting and ethical problem solving. We have to have boundaries.

So, who wins the 2020 presidential election?

I stopped thinking about predicting about the outcome of elections, when Richard J Daley upset with Bernie Carrie, the State’s Attorney race in 1980. The pollsters predicated a Carry win, the day after election I was at Daley headquarters to report the Daley win, that election taught me that it’s not over until its over.

What are your departing words to the Chicago public?

Thank you, Thank you. Thank you. This city is tough minded and takes no prisoners as it can be. It has given me its heart, and I give my heart back to it.

How do you account for race relations in our city?

It is enormous and never enough. I was there when Harold Washington won. I covered the race from beginning to end. All these years later, with a Black, female gay mayor, it would seem revolutionary. But we still struggle as a city that is still segregated and limited with its opportunities for Black and Brown people.

We have come a long way, but not nearly enough. I was on the Westside with the La Shawn Ford family. I was with three generations, his mother and his daughter. His mother recalled the King riots in 1968. We toured a completely torn up shopping center. His mother said, we never got rebuilt from the King’s riots. We never recovered. Three generations still struggling with the same issues.

What is the next chapter, in your life?

I hope to finish a book with Don Moseley about an organized crime figure. We have a couple of other writing projects. I have never done a career plan as a plan. Things come up and I decide to go in that direction. The door is open to a lot of possibilities.

What is your advice to a young journalist?

All you have at the end of the day is your integrity. You can spend years building your career and 5 minutes destroying it. So, your job is to stay true to yourself and to stay true to the highest standard of journalism. And if you can do that you will be just fine. This is a career that teaches you something everyday. It is the greatest job you can imagine having. I feel so lucky to have done it.