A Profile On Newhouse BDJ Alum Karina Kling
In this political climate like no one has ever seen, I truly admire the work that Karina Kling does. It takes a lot of grit, grace and passion to do a job that deals with very controversial material day in and day out, but Karina does it with class.
A member of the graduating master’s class of 2005 in broadcast, Kling comes from the town of Sterling, Kansas and after obtaining her undergraduate degree from Hastings College (in Hastings, Nebraska), applied to and started the journalism program here in 2004.
The program at the time was a little more than a year in length, and was the first time that the class got to participate in the Washington D.C. program where Kling’s love of political reporting began to surface. She also has a love of music as she also studied that in undergrad and still sings and plays the guitar and flute on occasion.
Her love of music made Austin, Texas the perfect fit for her at this time in her career. She initially planned on just taste-testing the city for a few years, but that three turned into nine and has become a comfortable home for her. As the anchor of “Capital Tonight”, she reports the ins and outs of politics and it is quite a job in one of the largest states in the union – elections allow her to travel as well.
Photo Courtesy of Peggy Fikac
Traveling is one of Karina’s favorite memories of her time at Newhouse. She was part of the Chapel Choir that had the opportunity to travel to China for a two-week tour in May of 2005, and is a group of people that she still keeps in touch with to this day.
A master’s degree was always in the back of her mind though. Her parents Diane and Gordon Kling are professors in communications and theatre respectively at Sterling College. Eventually, Karina would like to use her degree to educate as well. She is currently looking to teach some classes at the University of Texas. In the meantime, her degree helped her climb the corporate ladder more quickly.
“I’ve always felt a step ahead at work because of the education I got at Newhouse,” she stated.
Texas wasn’t her first stop; she began her career of political reporting in Lincoln, Nebraska. After covering the Texas Legislature she became the lead political reporter and has been the host of “Capital Tonight” on Spectrum News for the last two years.
Surprisingly, the interview that stood out most to her was not with a politician but with the astronaut, Clayton Anderson. He is known as “Nebraska’s astronaut”. Karina had the opportunity to follow his career into space and back to earth, as well as interview him while floating above our planet.
There have been plenty of amazing stories coming from the political sphere. Her one-on-one with former Secret Service Agent, Clint Hill was the most memorable. He was the one that jumped onto John F. Kennedy’s car to protect Jackie from also getting hit during the former President’s assassination on November 22nd, 1963.
He continued to serve five more presidents following that harrowing day. Karina had 7 minutes with him and obtained all the information she could in that time frame.
With all this experience, Karina’s recommendation would be to enjoy your time at Newhouse as well as stay connected and build good relationships with the people in your program, current and former. Her job in Austin came at the recommendation of a Newhouse alum, and internships were a huge benefit, something we’ll all be applying to soon enough. It is a career stepping stone for future success like Karina is currently reveling in.
