10 Plus 1: Sandra Hughes Answers Some Q's

(CBS)

What do you do at CBS News?

I'm a correspondent in the Los Angeles Bureau. We cover most anything and everything in the Western U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Mexico. My particular interests are technology and immigration, plus stories about trends affecting families and parenting. No surprise there, since I've got three children under the age of 8.

Up until recently, I think we haven't been doing the best job covering the issue of immigration and the growing Latino population of the U.S. Living in the diversity that's Los Angeles, you're obviously aware. Now, with Congress debating legislation dealing with illegal immigration -- and massive marches in cities around the country -- the whole nation is waking up to the issue. But it shouldn't have taken all that to wake us up. We should have been covering this issue more completely -- along the border, in cities, in rural areas. After all, the last census told us Latinos made up almost half of the total foreign-born population of the U.S. There are between 11 and 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. right now, and it appears they're ready to make their voices heard.

It was pitch black outside. I was three months pregnant with my daughter Grace. Producer Bruce Rheins and I had been given the task of reporting on the latest volcanic activity at Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island. To get to where the hot lava was flowing red -- what a great picture! -- we had to drive for an hour over hard black roads made very bumpy by old lava flows. We followed our local camera crew, who knew the way in. For long minutes, all I heard was Bruce saying, "Sorry, about that bump! Oops, sorry! Sorry about that bump! How's the baby doing?" I told him he had to shut up, or I was going to get out and walk. He was just being protective, which was really sweet.

Anyway, after a long drive, we got out and hiked in the dark, with only starlight and flashlights to guide our way over the slick, black lava path. Just as the sun came up, we finally made it to the water's edge. What a beautiful sight! We got great pictures that morning. In front of us: a river of steaming red lava flowing down from Kilauea into the Pacific Ocean -- sizzling as it hit the water, solidifying and adding to the Big Island's mass. Behind us: a path of destruction -- scorched earth, abandoned homes, and an island being reshaped before our eyes. Frightening and breathtaking at the same time. My daughter loves to have the story told and re-told about how she stood "on top" of the Kilauea Volcano in Mommy's tummy.

Not really. This is the absolute truth!

I absolutely love archeology. When the King Tut exhibit was here in Los Angeles, I got to take a behind-the-scenes tour and do several stories, including the controversy surrounding Tut's racial origins. I love history in all forms, and I think if I weren't a journalist piecing stories together, I'd be an archeologist piecing history together.

I'm an Internet addict. Of course, I read Public Eye every day. I read Mediabistro, The Drudge Report, Roll Call, Romenesko, among many, many others. I use the Internet for story ideas and as a way to connect to people when I'm setting up stories. It's a wonderful tool. It's also a great outlet for reporters in the TV business -- because we can give CBSNews.com our story "extras" that can't make it onto the "Evening News," because of time constraints. I've had several story subjects ask me to put links to their Web sites on ours. That tells me people are realizing the power of the Web.

Favorite movie: Anything and everything animated. Favorite book: "Goodnight, Moon." (What else is a mother of three supposed to say? I have it memorized by now.)

When I was a child during the Vietnam War, we watched the CBS "Evening News" with Walter Cronkite every night. My brother was in the military, and my family wanted all the information we could get. We'd watch the broadcast together, and then finish our dinner and debate the issues surrounding the war.

I think we all tend to complain about the direction of television news. So instead of doing that, I'm going to say that for me, this is an exciting time. Most kids today have never experienced what I just described that I experienced growing up: sitting around the dinner table watching the evening news. We're challenged by that in our business today, but why not embrace it? The world is open to just about everyone through the Internet, and there are so many ways we can incorporate that into our newsgathering and reportage. Once we realize all the untapped potential out there, we can stop being afraid of technology and use it to tell the stories we need to tell and the stories we want to tell, reaching the audience out there that needs and wants to know.

I work in Los Angeles, and that means covering many "Hollywood" stories. But many of the celebrities I've interviewed have turned out to be far less interesting people than some of the everyday folks I've met.

I remember interviewing one big-name movie star (whose Big Name shall go unspoken) for a piece on CBS News "Sunday Morning." I was a bit nervous to meet him, because of his reputation as a loud-mouthed, playboy type. The soundman put the wireless microphone on him. But before the interview, The Star excused himself to go to the room next door, where his posse was hanging out waiting. Not realizing that every single word he spoke could be heard by our soundman, he went on and on about how nervous he was and how he wasn't sure if he could even go through with the interview! That was probably the first and last time I had that effect on anyone, other than my children. (Now come to think of it, he was quite a bit younger than me!)

Really, though, the most fascinating people aren't the presidents and movie stars, but the real people who talk to me about their lives. The interviews I'll never forget are the ones after a fire, flood, earthquake, or mudslide has devoured homes -- when people are sharing their grief, talking about losing loved ones. The people who open their hearts to you for no other reason than because you ask, because they want to save someone else the heartache they've just endured, or because they just have to speak about the unspeakable, are the real "big interviews" to me.

Yes, I did major in Journalism at the University of Illinois. After graduation, I took my professor's advice and blanketed the local markets in my surrounding area with my very short resume and my very rough audition tape. Just as I had been advised might happen, no one was really interested in bringing me to them, so when I talked to a reporter who said her news director was interested in adding to the staff, I jumped at the chance to drive myself to the station.

It was in the middle of a cornfield in Southern Illinois but I didn't mind, it was a job! I came into Mount Vernon, Ill., the night before my interview and watched the 10 p.m. newscast taking extensive notes on the broadcast to talk about the next day in my interview. I foot the bill to stay in cheap hotel and got up early the next day to explore the town and know a little about the area, too.

Whether it was being at the right place at the right time, or that I was the only person willing to take $200 a week, she offered me a job and I was glad to take it. The great experience in small market television is, despite the tractor shows and the pork belly reports, you'll learn how to "do it all" in a newsroom. From writing short voice-overs for the anchor, to editing my own stories, to running the old-fashioned teleprompter, I learned just about everything. You learn how be resourceful and come up with story ideas every day; even when not much is going on at the local city council or school board meeting. It's not glamorous and it's not about making money, it's about loving what you do—and hopefully informing people about something they need to know.