The Daily Gamecock

Souza weighs in on journalism education while at USC

Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza spent much of his time on the campus of the University of South Carolina sharing his views on journalism education the future of the field.

For SJMC leaders like Andrea Tanner, the school's director, speakers like Souza can teach valuable lessons to students from across the school's majors.

“I really think that all the students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, whether they’re broadcast journalists, visual communications, mass communications, they’re all in our school to learn to be great storytellers,” she said. “And so when I think of Mr. Souza I think of him as being one of the best visual storytellers and so … he’s someone that all of our students can learn from.”

During his 24 hours on USC’s campus, Souza met with representatives from Garnet Media Group and the SJMC's senior journalism class in addition to delivering the Buchheit Family Lecture. He said his primary goal was to not just illuminate the role of a White House photographer, but also highlight the importance of building a visual archive of a presidency in the era of "fake news."

“Our students impressed him so much and ... they asked intelligent questions, they were professional and I was just so proud of the students at the University of South Carolina and the interactions they had with Pete Souza,” Tanner said. “And I know that he was impressed with the students as well.” 

Souza originally aspired to become a sports writer when entering college at Boston University. However, when he took a photography class on a whim, he found a passion that led him to the White House. Souza worked in the White House for most of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and, after a stint with The Chicago Tribune as a photojournalist, served as chief cfficial White House photographer during the Obama administration. Both positions allowed Souza to understand a president on an intimate level.

“The similarities were between Reagan and Obama is both of them had this … even keel disposition where they didn’t blow up at every little thing,” Souza said. “They’re sort of just pretty even-tempered, which I think is probably a good trait to have if you’re in that job because there’s a lot of difficult decisions that come to your desk.”

Obama and Souza had a professional relationship prior to the 2008 elections. Souza followed his time as a U.S. senator while working for The Chicago Tribune. Souza emphasized that forming relationships is critical to succeeding in competitive fields.

“He sort of got to know me a little bit and knew how I worked," he said, "and that was extremely helpful to have that kind of a relationship with him to bring that forward into the White House.” 

During Obama's eight years in office, Souza took nearly two million photographs with the daily average being 500 to 1,500. 

“There’s no secret. It’s just a lot of work and a lot of experience and always being prepared and always being there, because you’re not going to make those pictures if you’re not there, right? So you’ve got to show up every day,” Souza said. “There’s no magic formula, because if there was, then Apple would have invented it already.”

For Souza, the lesson in his lecture for students was to understand the importance of committing to capturing every moment of an event, even if that means personal sacrifices.

“I think it’s more just a inner-fortitude to just keep on going. You’re gonna have some bad days and you just have to sort of get through them and move on,” Souza said. “For me too, I have to say that the biggest obstacle challenge ... was just the day in and day out constant of being there, being at the White House every single day for 11, 12 hours a day, seven days a week sometimes.”

Souza has published books on the Obama and Reagan presidencies. His most recent book, "Obama: An Intimate Portrait” was published in 2017 with stories and photos of Obama’s eight years in office. He is also the author of "Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan” that follows a similar pattern. Souza’s next book “Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents” will be published in October 2018. It will feature his commentary and comparison between Obama and Donald Trump.

“I now have this voice. I’m a private citizen first and foremost, and I feel like it’s my civic duty to speak out. I thought that both President Reagan and President Obama were decent human beings and respected the office of the presidency, and I’m not sure I feel that way about the current occupant,” Souza said. “I felt it was my duty to speak out and do it in a somewhat humorous but snarky way.”

Souza now works as a freelance photographer and said his main focus is on increasing awareness about the importance of voting and of unbiased journalism in the world today. 

“I think there’s actually more pressure on journalists now to not make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes in journalism too,” Souza said. “But I think now we’re at a point in the country where journalists have to be even more careful making sure they’re getting the story right. Otherwise it will feed into this narrative of fake news.”


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