Jane King

By Alexis Bacon
Mass Communication, senior

Department alumna and CNN correspondent Jane King shared her journey that began at a tiny radio station to working for one of the world's leading news organizations with students this semester. She urged those students to strive for "excellence, not perfection."

"It's been a crazy 16 years," said King of her experience in the media industry.

King is currently the New York-based correspondent for CNN Marketsource, CNN Newsource's new affiliate feed service from the New York Stock Exchange. She shared with the audience that her career plan was not as neat as she had planned and she experienced constant struggle. For her first job while at Purdue, she worked at a small radio station where her boss was blind and Attica's mailman had his own show.

She got her start in television broadcasting at WLFI-TV in West Lafayette after an audition she saw as her last chance at television.

King said once she realized this mindset was making her nervous, she came up with a mantra she now not only uses in work but in life as well: "Excellence I can do, perfection I can't," she said.

"I realized I did not have to be perfect, just do the best job I could do."

King said her success has brought both positive and negative results. On the negative side, she expressed a lack of stability.

"At times you feel like you just don't have roots anywhere," she said.

But she loves the notoriety and variety. "You meet a wide variety of people and become a mini expert of many things," she said.

Before joining CNN Newsource in 2000, King worked as a business reporter for WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. She also has worked as an anchor and reporter at WAND-TV in Decatur, Ill., and WLFI-TV. King also has served as a member and floor trader for the Chicago Board of Trade.

After earning her bachelor of arts degree in telecommunications, she later served as an adjunct professor of broadcast journalism in the department.