Kyra Phillips

Dialogue with Tom Blair

THE DAUGHTER OF TWO San Diego State University professors, Kyra Phillips grew up in San Diego and showed an early aptitude for journalism and acting——a solid footing for a future network anchorwoman. After high school graduation, she attended the University of Southern California, where she earned a B.A. in journalism. After a brief, post-college internship at KGTV Channel 10, she climbed the ladder of local TV news in five markets before joining CNN in 1999, where she’s co-anchor of the afternoon desk. In addition to her anchor duties, reporting assignments have taken her to the Antarctic, New Orleans (to cover Hurricane Katrina), Europe and the Middle East (five times) to cover the war in Iraq. She’s won four Emmys and two Edward R. Murrow Awards for investigative reporting and was named Reporter of the Year in 1997 by Associated Press.

TOM BLAIR: You’re a San Diego native, correct?

KYRA PHILLIPS: Well, I was born in small-town Illinois, but I came to San Diego in the fourth grade. I grew up here mostly around San Diego State University, where my mom was a professor of deaf education and my dad taught Spanish.

TB: Where did you go to school?

KP: I went to elementary school as part of the magnet integration program, when they first started mandatory busing. I was going to all-black elementary schools, Fulton and Valencia Park. So as a kid I was already involved in diversity and integration issues. And it was tough. This was the first time in San Diego that black students had whites coming to their schools, and it was a fascinating dynamic.

TB: Was it ultimately good for you?

KP: Unbelievable. The whole experience for a kid was horrendous, because you’re getting beat up; you have to learn to protect yourself and try to figure out how to get along with other races.

TB: Perfect for someone going into journalism.

KP: You have no idea. But yeah, 100 percent. Like here [at CNN], everybody knows, if a story has anything to do with civil rights or diversity issues, I’m on it.

TB: So then you went to USC and journalism school. Did you know in college exactly what you wanted to do when you graduated? Was it always going to be television reporting and anchoring?

KP: I knew in elementary school at Fulton; I started a school newspaper there. And I was involved in Junior Theatre at Balboa Park. Dr. Seuss was my very first interview for the newspaper. My friend had told me her dad was a piano tuner, and he had tuned a piano for Ted [Dr. Seuss] Geisel. So I told her I wanted his phone number. We went to her house, her dad wasn’t there, and so, like any enterprising investigative reporter would do, we went through her dad’s Rolodex, looking for Dr. Seuss. Of course, it took us a while to figure out he was Ted Geisel, but we found the number. So I called him up; said I was doing a story for my elementary school newspaper. He was not happy. Not friendly to me. But I told him, “I love your books; this is going to be my first interview.” And I talked him into it. He gave me about six minutes——and my career was off and running.

TB: After college, you worked in TV news all over the map——KCBS in Los Angeles; New Orleans; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Lubbock, Texas. Did you ever work in San Diego television?

KP: I was an intern at Channel 10. And as an intern, I got an interview with Mother Teresa.

TB: Your first two interviews are Dr. Seuss and Mother Teresa? You start at the top. How did you get an interview with Mother Teresa?

KP: My dad was a Spanish professor, so I had some background in Spanish. Reporter Leonard Villareal and I connected at Channel 10, and I had told him, “Any time you’re going out on a story, I want to go.” So one day he tells me we’re going to Tijuana to cover Mother Teresa. I was a born-again Christian, very religious. I just knew I had to go on that assignment. And he was so generous with me. He just said, “Go ahead, Kyra, ask your questions.” He probably has no idea what he did for me, but that is the most memorable moment of my life. Mother Teresa put her hand on my head and blessed me. She gave me a rosary, and to this day it hangs in my office.

TB: And then the next time you reported from San Diego, you returned with CNN last fall to cover the devastating October firestorms. You anchored your broadcast at Qualcomm Stadium, very close to the neighborhood where you grew up. What was that like for you?

KP: Oh, my God, that was five minutes from my home——in what I used to know as Jack Murphy Stadium. That’s where I saw my first concert, my first baseball game——I was a junior Padre——and my first football game. And now I’m covering this sort of refugee camp for San Diegans who’d lost all their belongings. It was very surreal. Pastors from my old church were there. My dad was there as a volunteer, translating for the Hispanic community. A lot of personal connections.

TB: You’ve cut a wide swath as both an anchor and reporter over the past decade——the 9/11 terrorist attacks; Hurricane Katrina; presidential election coverage; the Elián González custody battle; the war in Iraq. It’s always hard to judge our own work, but what reporting have you been most proud of?

KP: Tough question. I was proud of the war reporting, because I broke so many stories during the time just before the war and when “shock and awe” was about to unfold. But I’m even more proud of how I’ve been able to go back now and do stories on Iraqi life——to show people it’s not just troops banging down doors and blowing up insurgent strongholds. It’s also about showing the Iraqi people, the culture, how they live, what they deal with on a regular basis. And people back home in the U.S., and at work, are starting to say to me, “Wow. We’re finally getting a glimpse of what it’s really like in Iraq——what it takes for a typical Iraqi to get through the day.”

TB: Any personal reporting disasters you’d like to share?

KP: You know, I don’t think that’s ever happened. I don’t think I ever completely lost a story, or the story didn’t turn out to be interesting. I guess I’ve been blessed in that manner.

TB: Well, either blessed, or very good at your job. So maybe we ought to get that embarrassing open-microphone incident out of the way. [In 2006, when President Bush was speaking on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Phillips’ microphone was left on when she went to the bathroom. And her casual conversation——including a poke at her “control freak” sister-in-law——went out on-air during the live broadcast of the president’s speech.] Have you totally recovered? Are you and your in-laws friends again?

KP: We always have been. And my sister-in-law actually laughed. She said, “Of course I’m a control freak. Aren’t we all?” She was a trouper.

TB: You’ve earned a reputation as something of an adventuress. You’ve flown on an F-14 combat training mission over the Persian Gulf; traced the steps of famous explorers in Antarctica; trained with the elite Top Gun school. Have you no fear?

KP: Well, I do have a little bit of fear. I just love the thrill of the job.

TB: I know you’re an anchor and reporter. But anchors are prime property. I wonder if CNN ever hesitates to send you out, knowing they could lose you. Most people don’t mind losing a reporter. But an anchor?

KP: It’s funny you say that, because the first time I wanted to come back to Iraq, to do the regular Baghdad rotation, I had to talk to every high-level executive at our company. And all of them said to me, “Why the blank do you want to do this? Are you crazy?” So I had to tell them I understood the risk. I could be a high-profile target. But this is something I’m passionate about, and I want to go. And I won the fight.

TB: Your bio says you have extensive police SWAT and weapons training. I suppose that could come in handy for all reporters. What’s that all about?

KP: Tom, you should never want to upset me. Actually, that started when I was a reporter in Lubbock, Texas. I was sent out on a SWAT call, and I observed this lack of trust and understanding between media and law enforcement. It was a huge challenge. And so I said to myself, “I’m going to learn to understand the mentality——what they do, how they train——so when I come into a situation like this again, I’m going to know the right language, the right procedures, when to roll the camera and when not to.” So I got entrenched in the training as best I could. And I tell you, it paid off. We developed such a great respect for each other. It helped me with sources, with information. They knew if I covered the story and I understood it, I would do it right. I got incredible access. It was tremendous for my career.

TB: You’re actually in Iraq again now, doing this interview through international long distance from Iraq.

KP: Yes, you’re talking to me in the sandbox.

TB: And this latest assignment is more about the people of Iraq than the war, right? How it’s affecting the people and who they are.

KP: Yeah, I’m definitely going to be talking about the political issues at hand. We’re in a presidential election. I’ll talk about the troop surge and how General [David] Petraeus and Admiral [William] Fallon feel about the war and how it’s going. And what the next president needs to be ready for and what challenges he or she——that’s exciting to say——may face. But at the same time, my focus is the Iraqi people and how they’re living, breathing and operating in this war zone. I want to give people a glimpse into the culture, the lifestyle and the emotions of the people——whether an Iraqi soldier, mother or child.

TB: What’s the attitude of the Iraqi pilots you’ve been flying with? And what’s their attitude toward the U.S. and our military?

KP: The young Iraqi pilot I profiled, I asked him, “Why do you want to be a part of the new Iraqi Air Force?” And he said, “The movie Top Gun.” That’s why he wanted to be a fighter pilot. And then, of course, by the end of the interview our call signs were Maverick and Goose. But in all seriousness, they saw what the U.S. has with regard to air power and how effective it is. And they want their air force to be just like the U.S. Air Force or Navy or Marines——to be able to take out these threats from the air, because that’s what’s killing their people on the ground.

TB: How competitive is the world of network TV anchoring and reporting? Is it different for men and women?

KP: I realized a long time ago that as a woman in this business I was going to have to know how to operate in a man’s world——not only in my newsroom but out in the field. That was what was going to make me different, to distinguish me from everybody else. I wanted to be that journalist who could operate in the law-enforcement world, in the military world, the political world, the sports world. I wanted to be so diverse that nobody could ever say of me, “No, she can’t do that. She won’t fit in there.”

TB: Obviously, you do more than sit behind an anchor desk and read the TelePrompTer. You’re constantly on the move, reporting and anchoring from distant locations. Does all this leave any time at all for a private life? Are you married, a parent?

KP: The personal life? The private life? The biggest thing on my mind right now is that I want to have a child. And that’s what I’m struggling with: How do I continue this professional adventure and at the same time be a mom? No, I’m not married, and I don’t have children. But I want it more than anything else. I want the great career, the happy marriage and the children. That’s the biggest challenge facing me as I turn 40 this year.

TB: What’s the one assignment you’ve always wanted that, so far, has eluded you?

KP: Wow. I’m thinking of Eckhart Tolle, and how I’ve been trying so hard to just live in the moment and not have any expectations. And so every day when I wake up, that’s the best part of my job. I never know what’s ahead or what can happen.

TB: You take it as it comes.

KP: I do. I just try to live in the moment. But I’m ready for anything, that’s for sure.

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