"You can't fake it when you put it on paper," Rooney said. "When a person can't put it down on paper, chances are that there aren't any ideas there."
At the same time, he said it is very difficult to teach the art of writing.
"It is hard to teach people to write because it is hard to teach them to have something to say," Rooney said. "It is easy for teachers to deal with grammar, which can be easily corrected, but you cannot teach someone to have a clear opinion."
In addition to his 23 years in television, Rooney is also a prolific writer. His most recent work is entitled Sincerely, Andy Rooney. He has also contributed articles to magazines ranging from Fine Woodworking to Playboy and Cosmopolitan.
At age 80, after writing 11 books, hundreds of television scripts and radio shows and biweekly syndicated columns that have run in 150 newspapers across the nation for the past 18 years, Rooney's credentials have, in many minds, earned him the right to have become broadcast media's resident curmudgeon.
Rooney was joined in the audience by his daughter Emily, who is the host of WGBH's Greater Boston, a news commentary show that features local journalist and politicians that runs on PBS.