Following his mother's advice after graduating from Yale University in 1989, Anderson Cooper "followed his bliss."

Cooper, an anchor for CNN, addressed a crowd of more than 300 at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School Saturday. As part of the McCarthey Family Lecture Series in Praise of Independent Journalism, Cooper recounted his own entry into the field and the insights he has gained as an award-winning journalist.

In an information age where anyone at home can start a blog that could have millions of readers, information can take on a life of its own, Cooper said. Because of this, he said, now more than ever before it is pivotal that people understand where their information comes from and who is shaping it.

"It is only by seeing a situation from as many angles as possible that you can possibly understand a story," Cooper said.

Cooper said he decided to go into broadcasting, despite any formal training in journalism, because he was always interested in television news. After being denied entry-level positions, Cooper had a friend create a fake press pass for him and he went to war zones with a hand-held camera.

"If I went to the dangerous places, I figured there wouldn't be much competition," Cooper said.

Although Cooper attended Yale, his real education came from the streets of Somalia, Niger and Rwanda, he said.

He observed that humans are capable of anything from brutality to kindness. But the surprise routinely came from the truth of individual stories that motivated the action, Cooper said.

"We have to look directly into the things that scare us the most," Cooper said. "In the hustle and bustle of daily life, we can easily forget the lives other people are living every day."

The events that Cooper has covered, from Hurricane Katrina to the tsunami in Sri Lanka, have had a profound impact on his life, he said. It is important that these stories be remembered, because you never now when the next disaster could happen close to home, he said.

Cooper said he never set out to be an anchor, and he is concerned when he hears young people say they want to be on television or be a politician.

"I tell kids who want to be anchors or politicians that they need to be a real person before they can become a fake one," Cooper said.

As part of the lecture series, the McCarthey family also sponsored an essay contest to encourage dialogue on the role of the free press in a presidential campaign. The winning essay, "Politics Is Not Show Business," was written by Jeremy Beckham, a senior in history at the University of Utah. He won a $2,500 cash price.

Cooper joked that Beckham had no career in cable news with a title like that for his essay.

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E-mail: cnorlen@desnews.com