Journalist Massimo Calabresi '85 visits Hopkins

Massimo Calabresi '85 took to the podium at assembly to much excitement from the students and faculty alike. He spoke to the students about his experiences in Russia following his studies at Yale and his travels to Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo covering the wars as Central Europe Bureau Chief for Time Magazine. He also spoke of what he's learned working as a White House Correspondent for Time.

Calabresi told the students "don't be afraid of the truth," and explained that his job as a reporter is to help people face the truth of what is happening around them as well as the world at large. He said the more he reports and learns on his own, the less he trusts what he sees from TV news, which he feels never provides information sufficient to fully understand what is happening in the world. He told the students that no story can have all of the truth in it, because all stories are multi-faceted. The work of most politicians is to shape the truth to advance their own interest, and to spin it to control how they or their party is perceived. Calabresi also told the students that honest reporters do their best at approximating what the truth is. Journalists make a living telling stories, shaping the truth into an interesting narrative, because no one wants to read a boring story. He also told them to consider that much of the time a well structured story is not entirely accurate, because the world is more complex than can be conveyed in one piece.

Calabresi ended his address by asking the students to encourage their fellow classmates, and to imagine what they may become beyond Hopkins. He said they all have enormous potential to do great things after they've been out in the world for a while.

Massimo's parents, Guido Calabresi '49 HGS and Anne Tyler Calabresi '52 PH were also in attendance for assembly, sitting proudly in the front row.

A little more information about Massimo Calabresi '85:

Massimo Calabresi is a correspondent for Time Magazine based in Washington. He has covered the White House, Congress, the intelligence community, the State department and the Treasury department, and he writes regularly on politics and policy in the capital.

 

Calabresi began work for Time in 1993 as a freelance reporter on general assignment for the New York bureau. In April 1995 he was named Central Europe Bureau Chief and over the next four years covered the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. He led a reporting team that was honored with several awards, including citations of excellence from the Overseas Press Club for coverage of the massacres at Srebrenica and the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. Calabresi became Time's Washington-based national security correspondent in August 1999 and wrote and reported cover packages and stories on terrorism, arms control, the United Nations, espionage and other issues. In July 2001, Calabresi was named Time's diplomatic correspondent. He was the lead reporter on the magazine's award-winning coverage of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and their aftermath. He wrote and reported cover stories on Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other issues. In January 2005, Calabresi was named congressional correspondent, covering Capitol Hill, where he wrote on lobbying, immigration, social security reform, Supreme Court nominations and the 2006 elections, among other issues. In March 2007 he was named White House correspondent where he covered the final two years of the Bush presidency and the presidential election of 2008.

 

Calabresi graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1989. He began his career in journalism as a freelance reporter in Moscow, Russia in July 1991 where he wrote for National Review. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and son.