Williams, back from Iraq

Brian Williams is fairly sure the plane he took to Baghdad a few weeks ago, a Fokker 100, landed on a runway lit by four snap glow sticks.

He said he and the soldiers and staff he traveled with were shot at just for being American.

"It's just so bloody random," he said. "It's so awful."

The award-winning broadcast journalist and "NBC Nightly News" anchor shared these and other anecdotes with aspiring journalists at the journalism building yesterday, as part of the Brown Bag Speaker Series.

The fifth-floor atrium was crowded and students overflowed into the stairs to hear the lecture and take part in the question-and-answer session.

The Brown Bag Speaker Series, hosted by the journalism department, is intended as "an opportunity for students to learn from well-versed journalists in the field," said Maddie Polsky, coordinator of the program for the graduate program.

Williams, the sixth speaker in the series, returned from Iraq a few weeks ago. Despite the violence, Williams said he admired the courage of the American soldiers in Iraq.

"They're phenomenal," Williams said. "They are the most motivated group."

Though he always wanted to be a journalist, Williams said he's extremely lucky to have been so successful - and that in his road to get there, he couldn't "screw up more."

Before his broadcasting career, he worked as a White House intern during the Carter administration, though he never graduated from college.

Before joining NBC, he was a news anchor for CBS for seven years, where he won his first Emmy in 1987 for his coverage of the stock market collapse.

Williams gave the journalism students advice on the motivation, dedication and will needed to become a journalist.

Journalism's not the right career path if on career day "it was neck-to-neck with farming and dentistry," he said.

In response to a question from CAS sophomore Melissa Saks about the differences between print and broadcast journalism, Williams said he appreciates writing, but print journalism is losing popularity.

However, broadcasting also has its drawbacks.

"I have not taken well to people knowing who I am," he said.

Williams was also asked about turbulence in his career.

"I'm a hustler," he answered. "If this ended tomorrow, I'll get three jobs tomorrow morning by 8 a.m. I'll do anything."

Williams said students shouldn't be discouraged if they don't land an amazing job right away.

"Anything worth wanting is worth fighting for," he said. "This is why we have the best waiters and waitresses in the world. We're hustlers; it's the New York way."

Williams, a New York state native, offered advice on breaking into the broadcast business.

"Be yourself," he said. "Retain your own voice."