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Robin Roberts says she dedicated her adult life to journalism because she wanted to be “a messenger” and give people a safe place to tell their stories. In an InStyle interview published November 3, 2025, she connects that purpose to the reporters who inspired her, the stories she covered, the personal experiences she shared publicly, and the next generation of journalists she hopes to support.
What Robin Roberts says journalism is for
“It came down to wanting to be a messenger, wanting to provide a safe haven for people to share their stories,” Roberts told InStyle. That idea links the different parts of her career: reporting on sports and national events, speaking publicly about her health, and encouraging students to learn the craft.
Her account is personal rather than a general argument that journalism has solved its problems. Roberts describes what reporting means to her, and why she believes trust depends on how journalists treat people and follow a story.
How her sister helped make a journalism career imaginable
Roberts recalls being 12 when she saw her sister, Sally-Ann Roberts, reporting on a local Mississippi television station. Seeing a Black woman on television helped her picture herself in the profession. “It’s very important to see people who look like yourself at a young age to inspire you,” she said.
That memory gives representation a practical meaning in Roberts’s story: a visible example helped turn an abstract possibility into a career she could pursue.
What sports reporting taught her
Sports was Roberts’s first reporting beat. She says she was troubled by the unequal attention given to women’s sports and by the language used to describe Black athletes. The interview also recounts advice from Diane Sawyer to “create stories that cause a reaction, that lead to action.”
Roberts says moving from sports into general reporting changed the subjects, not her approach. She carried forward an interest in whose stories receive attention and in reporting that might move people to respond.
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From reporting to a defining role at Good Morning America
The InStyle profile traces Roberts’s move from sports reporting to a featured reporter role on Good Morning America (GMA), where she became a co-anchor in 2005. It also lists several milestones: her induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2014, and the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism in 2024.
Roberts describes morning television as a particular responsibility: “Sometimes, we set the tone for the morning, holding the public’s hand. That is something I don’t take lightly.”
Why Roberts chose to share personal experiences
Roberts says public disclosure changed her relationship with reporting. The interview states that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent a bone marrow transplant for myelodysplastic syndrome in 2013. She recalls uncertainty about how much to share and says her mother encouraged her with the words, “make your mess your message.” Roberts believed that talking about what she was going through might help others learn from it.
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For Roberts, personal storytelling did not replace reporting; it became another way to make room for other people’s experiences. Her account also makes clear that the decision involved uncertainty, not a simple formula for how much anyone should disclose.
The Katrina moment that changed her view of authenticity
InStyle recalls Roberts reporting on Hurricane Katrina in 2005 while unable to reach her family. She says colleague Charlie Gibson asked whether she had found them, and she began crying on live television. Roberts feared she would be fired because she understood reporters were not supposed to become part of the story.
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Why returning to a story matters
Roberts says GMA may revisit a story six months, a year, or even a decade after the immediate crisis. A return can show what comes after the breaking-news moment, when recovery is uneven and life does not resolve into a neat ending.
She connects that continuing coverage to trust: audiences may want to see both the difficult moments and the possibility of hope. In her view, showing the longer arc is part of treating people and their experiences seriously.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Roberts’s advice for journalism’s next generation
Roberts says the news industry is “going through a battle with the public over the word trust.” She welcomes young people documenting their lives and communities through short-form media and blogs, while urging aspiring journalists to approach that work with care.
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Her advice emphasizes skills and relationships rather than a particular platform: use the tools available, check facts, consult sources, and learn how to earn the respect of the people being covered. “I would really want to teach journalists how to earn the respect of the people they are trying to reach, how to go about it, fact checking, sources,” she said.
A media center aimed at future journalists
The interview describes the Robin Roberts Broadcast Media Center at Southeastern Louisiana University as a 100,000-square-foot building with three broadcast studios. Roberts recalls beginning as a speech major before pursuing journalism, and says she is grateful for the opportunities the center can offer students. These facility details are reported in the interview.
Her interest in the center fits the broader thread in her account: journalism became imaginable to her partly because she saw her sister doing it, and she wants future students to have opportunities to learn and practice the work.
What her legacy means in her own account
Roberts’s reflections bring her career back to the purpose she names at the outset: listening, making space for people to tell their stories, and taking responsibility for how those stories are handled. Her belief in journalism is not presented as blind confidence. It is tied to fact-checking, sourcing, respect, and staying with stories long enough to show what happens next.
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Read the full InStyle interview with Robin Roberts.
