Reporter

i do think there's a generational difference in how younger viewers experience news and relate to it. to people who've grown up watching a lot of news, in the age of the internet, the all-seeing anchor seems false. the notion that you can learn everything you need to know from one person, in one 30-minute broadcast, doesn't ring as true as it once did.

but you are an anchor. so how do you reach viewers?
personally, as a viewer and as an anchor, i want the people i listen to to be honest with me, to tell me what they know, not pretend to know things they don't. viewers know when someone is talking about what they know, and when someone is trying to look like they know more than they do. i watch people i believe. as an anchor, i don't think there's anything wrong with saying i don't know, with asking questions.

so the anderson cooper we see onscreen …
is pretty close to who i actually am. even if i weren't an anchor, i'd be doing what i do every day: reading news sites, blogs, newspapers. it's my passion, and i hope that comes across. i think to be a good anchor you have to be who you are.
it's like in anchor school there's some kind of formula of how to be. kent brockman on the simpsons is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors. once the simpsons has your number, you've got to change what you're doing.

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anderson cooper anchors anderson cooper 360 at 7 p.m. et every weekday.
this just in … a chat with three top cnn correspondents
1) christiane amanpour
how has your job changed since you started at cnn in 1983?
my job hasn't fundamentally changed. i'm still a reporter for a 24-hour network, still covering major breaking news. it has been harder and harder, however, to get these kinds of stories on the air, because in recent years there has been more emphasis on what i call softer, feature-y news. right now, with jon klein's arrival, we're getting back to doing important stories again.