TROY News Center

TROY – A Fox News contributor, WSB talk radio host and blogger urged student journalists to know their facts, understand historical context and “tell the story” when they report the news.

Erick Erickson provided the keynote address at Friday’s M. Stanton Evans Symposium on Money, Politics and the Media at Troy University. The annual event is co-hosted by the University’s Hall School of Journalism and Communication and the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy.

“There are three things to being a great journalist: One, know what the facts really are. What is the truth? Remember, truth can change. A few years ago, science told us we had nine planets and, today, we only have eight. Know the truth at the time of your writing,” he said. “Two, What is your historical perspective? What happened before? Three: Tell the story. Build the human element around the facts. People want to be drawn to something more than themselves -- they are hungry for intellectual pursuit.”

Erickson, who is editor-in-chief of the Washington blog RedState.com, practiced law for six years, has managed political campaigns and spent three years as a CNN contributor before joining Fox News. He has co-authored “RedState Uprising,” and writes “Morning Briefing,” a daily email widely read by conservative pundits and activists. A graduate of Mercer University, he lives in Macon, Ga., where he is a former city councilman.

His speech to the symposium, named in honor of TROY faculty member Stan Evans who is a national columnist, commentator and book author, and former editor of the Indianapolis News, spoke on “Insta-Journalism and the Need for Slow.” He opined that “modern journalism has turned into a drive to be first, not accurate.”

“There is a need for slowness in news to allow for time to remove personal bias and consider all sides of the facts,” he said, calling on reporters to tone down sensationalism.

“It is common for reporters to think that somehow the world began in 2000. They have no sense of history and this means every new crisis is ‘the greatest crisis ever’ even when, historically, it's most likely not anywhere close,” he said.

Fox News contributor, conservative blogger and author Erick Erickson addresses journalism students at the annual M. Stanton Evans Symposium on Money, Politics and the Media at Troy University. (TROY photo)

TROY -- Clifford Levy, deputy editor of the Metro Section of the New York Times and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his investigative reporting, will speak to Troy University students at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Trojan Center Theatre on the Troy Campus.

Levy’s presentation is a part of the TROY’s partnership with The New York Times, which supports the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan to create a culture of engaged readers.

Levy also oversees investigative projects and specializes in social media. He has also served the Times as their Moscow Bureau Chief and secured one of his Pulitzer Prizes for a series of articles about human rights and freedom of speech in Russia.

Levy joined The Times in 1990 as a news assistant, was promoted to reporter in 1992 and has served various positions with the paper since that time. Before joining The Times, Levy was a reporter for the New York bureau of United Press International.

In addition to his Pulitzers, Levy is a three-time winner of the George Polk Award, presented annually by Long Island University to honor special achievement in journalism. He also has been honored with the 2008 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Foreign Correspondence, the International Print Winner for the RFK Journalism Awards in 2009 and a 2009 Eppy Award from Editor & Publisher.

Born in New Rochelle, N.Y., on June 15, 1967, Mr. Levy graduated from Princeton University in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and international affairs.

Mr. Levy is married with three children and lives in Brooklyn.

TROY – Troy University’s Hall School of Journalism and Communication will recognize the outstanding achievements of its students and alumni at its annual awards banquet in April, and the Journalism Alumni Association is accepting nominations for awards.

The annual banquet recognizes the achievements of not only students currently enrolled at TROY but also highlights the success of graduates working in the fields of advertising, public relations, print and broadcast Journalism.  Nomination forms can be found on the JAA’s website at jaa.troy.edu.

“The alumni awards banquet is a great way of recognizing the success of our graduates and is also a way of welcoming back all of our graduates so they can remember their time in the Hall School,” says Aaron Taylor, President of the JAA and past alumni award recipient.  “We hope as many graduates as possible come back for the banquet to see what’s going on at their alma mater, including many of the changes that have taken place since they left.”

During this year’s awards banquet, the Hall School of Journalism and Communication will celebrate its 41st anniversary and many of the changes four decades of journalism education have brought.

Chief among those changes is the School’s first graduate program. Taught online, the Master of Science in Strategic Communication is designed to be completed in one year. Another change has been the official renaming of the School’s print journalism program. The Multimedia Journalism track takes advantage of technological advances in the field and better positions graduates for a digital future, Taylor said.

 “I feel a lot of the alumni are not aware of what is going on at their alma mater,” he said. “The banquet is a good way to get reacquainted not just with the School but with old classmates they haven’t seen in years.”

The banquet will be in the Trojan Center Ballrooms on Saturday, April 6^, with a meet-and-greet starting at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for Hall School students and $25 for alumni and other guests.

For more information on the banquet or to purchase tickets, contact Kate Rowinsky at (334) 670-3289 or by email at

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