TCU alumnus Bob Schieffer said he took the advice of a high school mentor when he closed the curtain on his annual symposium. The Schieffer Symposium on the News, a gathering of media leaders who discussed the state of journalism and popular topics in the news, ran for 11 years and featured some of the biggest names in the industry. “I had a high school teacher one time who told me, you always want to leave the stage while they’re still applauding,” said Schieffer, who graduated from North Side High School in Fort Worth. “You don’t want somebody to have to come out there with a hook, so I’ve always tried to follow that rule.” Schieffer announced his retirement as anchor of CBS News’ “Face the Nation” at last year’s Schieffer Symposium. He had anchored the Sunday morning program since 1991 as part of a 58-year career in news. Humble beginnings The Schieffer Symposium ran for 11 years, hosted 39 renowned panelists and attracted more than 10,000 attendees. “Sometime last summer, I told Chancellor [Victor] Boschini that I just thought they were going to have to end sometime,” Schieffer said. “We had such a good one last year where I announced my retirement, and we had a wonderful panel, so I thought it would be a good time to do it. And I always believe in ending on a high note.” In a recent phone interview with TCU 360, Schieffer reminisced about the event’s humble beginnings in 2005. The event was a way of commemorating the naming of the Schieffer School of Journalism. After talking to Boschini in 2005, Schieffer said he had the idea to invite his friends in the journalism business to the naming ceremony. “I thought maybe I could get some of my friends to come down, and we could just talk about the news,” Schieffer said. That year, Schieffer invited Tom Friedman, foreign-affairs columnist for The New York Times; Bob Woodward, the associate editor of The Washington Post who covered the Watergate scandal; Jim Lehrer, former anchor and executive editor of “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer”; Kate Lehrer, novelist and TCU alumna; and Tom Brokaw, former anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” to speak for the first panel.
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