Gay Newsmen - A Clearer Picture: Thomas Roberts

As a part of AfterElton.com's Gay Newsmen series, contributing writer James Hillis will be providing daily interviews with gay newsmen here on the blog.

When Thomas Roberts was hired by CNN at age 29 from a small local market he said it “was beyond my wildest dreams.” Right off the bat, Roberts recalled, “I was covering everything from the Olympics to technology to the war on terror.”

An anchor and investigative reporter at NBC Norfolk, Virginia Beach at the time, it may have been an Edward R. Murrow Award winning documentary Roberts did about child welfare issues that caught CNN’s attention. “It was something I felt strongly about,” said Roberts of the documentary, his intention being “to bring something to light that wasn’t getting the coverage it deserved.”

This sense of purpose lines up with what Roberts said is his mission on many stories, “to give voice to the voiceless, and to do so in a way that’s respectful and understanding; with compassion, and with fact.” This was especially true when, as a CNN correspondent, Roberts covered the aftermath of Katrina from New Orleans. Roberts was overwhelmed by the sheer carnage of it, telling AE that “television, sitting in that little box, the pictures that everyone sees; it never did (the devastation of Katrina) justice.” And the helplessness was overwhelming as well. Roberts said many survivors “just wanted to be listened to.”

Roberts became effectively out when he took part in a panel discussion at last summer’s NLGJA (National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association) conference in Miami. That was followed by his first interview on the issue here at AE. Roberts says for him it’s a matter of giving hope to “any kid who’s gay or lesbian and wants to excel in the profession that they choose as their dream job. They shouldn’t be made to feel as if they’re sexual identity and the way that they were born is going to hinder them from achieving their dreams.”

In this interview, conducted before the announcement of Roberts’ departure from CNN May 1, Roberts stressed that CNN had been supportive of his choice to be out. Asked if his honesty with the public may have hurt him behind the scenes, Roberts found that unlikely, and ultimately irrelevant. “If it has, I don’t know. But why, in all honesty, would I want to work for anybody that would have a problem with me being gay, that would have a problem with me being honest?”

Here at AE we look forward to more success from Mr. Roberts and greater things to come.