A Philosophy Major Walks into a Newsroom

Eric Salzman admits he attended Carnegie Mellon University because of photos in a brochure that led to a quick campus visit. He wound up the Dietrich College for Humanities & Social Sciences’ sole philosophy major in the Class of 1997.

Where does a lonesome philosophy major go next? For Eric, that was Yellowstone National Park, where he spent five weeks as a restaurant host when an interview with CBS News came his way. A week later, he was off to New York City to start a career in producing television news.

Today, Eric is a senior producer for “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and is known for out-of-the-box media concepts and content. His career took him to a documentary production company, the “Nate Berkus Show,” CBS News’ “The Early Show,” MSNBC and ultimately to “NBC Nightly News,” where he’s been since summer 2016.

The road Eric followed was never straight, spending time on a number of shows that pushed him into new places and shifting his professional priorities as his personal interests also changed.

“In this business — and I suspect in most — every job is going to help you with future ones. You might think working even briefly on a daytime talk show would not lend itself to a future job in news. But, when I had to put together a town hall event with President Obama, having worked on a show with a live studio audience proved quite helpful,” Eric says.

“Ending up at ‘Nightly News’ was a stroke of tremendous fortune. At a very unsure time in my career, I was given a chance to try spending time at 'Nightly' to see if it was a good fit. Hands down, it has been the nicest place I’ve ever worked.”

We recently talked with Eric about his journey from studying philosophy to breaking news.

You’re a philosophy major working in network news. Are there many of you?

Where do philosophy majors end up? If there are other philosophy majors working in network news, I haven’t come across them. But there are a lot of people in the news who embrace the concepts of philosophy, i.e. skepticism, logic, the need for proof.

What do you love about producing?

Literally everything. I like working with different correspondents. I like helping to find an interesting approach to the story. I like finding a story no one else is doing. The crafting of the story, the shot selection in the edit room, meeting interesting people, sitting in the front-row seat to history — I like it all. I get to make connections with crews in the field. I get to travel the country and even the world. Mainly, I value the chance to participate in the national dialogue about things large and small.

How has your humanities background helped your career?

The main thing an education in philosophy and humanities helps with in news is critical thinking. It’s the most important part of what we do.

The most brutal of my classes at CMU was "logic." It was computer based, and for me, the hardest class ever. I struggled and was at the TA’s office often. But one of the most important concepts taught was the notion of working backwards — a lesson I’ve remembered ever since. I don’t use equations now, but the idea of knowing where you need to get and building the case one step at a time in reverse to get to where you need to start has been invaluable.

What lessons or practices from CMU do you still use every day?

We had these requirements — whatever your major was — in different categories. There was no avoiding a physics class for me, so I took a "we know you are only here to fulfill a requirement" intro physics class. There were two professors teaching the class. They were great — incredibly patient and understood the types of students in these lectures. In one lecture — I swear I was doing my best to follow it — I was so lost. I didn’t want to look like an idiot, but finally raised my hand and said something. The professors stopped and asked the entire class who else was lost. Apparently a lot of people were. So they started over and explained things in a different way.

Fast forward to what I do now — I ask questions a lot. I end up working on stories across a wide range of topics. I learned that people with expertise are often happy to help explain what they know. I call policy and subject matter experts all the time with a whole range of questions to make sure the story I’m working on has the right approach and context.

You are known for your unusual ideas for content. What’s your favorite example?

I once pitched a series of stories with stick figure drawings featuring correspondent Harry Smith interviewing presidential candidates. The candidates held up a white board that said "MY BIG IDEA." There was no written pitch, just stick figure drawings.

Our idea was to do single issue policy discussions with as many candidates as possible. We asked them to share their one big idea on the board, then hold it straight to camera and explain who they were and to expound on their idea. We asked "How would it work?" and "Who will pay for it?"

The white board served as the gimmick to make it—as Harry would say—"stick to the screen." We ended up interviewing 14 candidates and covered substantive discussions about different policy issues.

You produced 2021’s “Children That Pay,” investigative journalism that chronicled the story of a private company meant to care for at-risk youth whose staff faced allegations of neglect, abuse, sexual assault and even homicide. What are the challenges of tackling emotionally difficult stories like this?

It can be really hard. We interviewed people who experienced serious traumas. To be clear, what they went through firsthand is a whole lot harder than hearing about it. But it does take a toll to sit with that kind of material for hours and hours, day after day. Sometimes you need to take a step away. While difficult, that project may have been the most important one I’ve ever worked on. Our team was incredible. Some of that work was recently featured at a congressional hearing on these same facilities we reported on. Having that kind of impact makes you feel like the work you did mattered.

What do you love about telling people’s stories?

Sometimes you have to tell someone’s story who’s not going to be happy about it. Perhaps the story focuses on the thing they’ve done wrong — maybe even a crime. But there are plenty of stories filled with inspiration, hope, struggle and sometimes plain old intrigue. When you share those stories and see the impact, it’s just awesome.

Catch Eric’s work on “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” at 6:30 p.m. ET on your NBC affiliate.