YAKIMA, Wash. – The Yakima Town Hall is back. The event kicked off with a legend in the journalism field.
Bob Woodward spoke to an audience full of community members and students about his experiences reporting and where journalism goes from here.
The goal of the Yakima Town Hall is to bring the world to Yakima and educate the community, specifically students.
The board gives out a limited number of tickets to each event to schools that request them.
Magnus Fulton is a West Valley High School student looking to get into journalism.
“I’ve always considered Yakima to be a small town,” Fulton said. “I was pretty honored to be a part of his tour.”
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were the first to report the Watergate Scandal involving former President Richard Nixon.
Woodward took time before he spoke to the crowd to sit down with students and talk about what takes to be a good journalist.
“People ask that question,” Woodward said. “What’s the job of a journalist? It’s simple, to find out what happened, what is happening and not choke on this idea of what’s going to happen.”
Woodward told NonStop Local that being a journalist is the greatest job in the world.
“Why? Think about it,” he said. “We get to make momentary entries in people’s lives.”
After talking with the students, Woodward took time to take photos and talk with them.
Woodward spoke to a crowded Capitol Theater about his discussions with former President Donald Trump and Gerald Ford just to name a few.
Fulton said the the advice he received from Woodward will stick with him and give him the confidence to pursue journalism.
“I really like what Mr. Bob Woodward said, it’s the best job on earth,” Fulton said. “You get to be a part of people’s most interesting days.”
The next Yakima Town Hall will be in October and there will be four more speakers lined up for this season including Olympian Apolo Ohno.
