Cindy Nguyen – For the Review. The recipient of five Emmy-award nominations and author of a 1996 New York Times “Notable Book of the Year,” Edward Alwood will visit the Nicholson Library on Oct. 8.
Raised in the Deep South, which was a central target of the civil rights movement, Alwood became acquainted with the national media as he frequented the front porch of the New Albany hotel to witness the chaos of the movement, according to his web site. He also mingled among dozens of journalists sent to Georgia to cover the civil rights movement; it was then his interest in journalism peaked. In high school, he became involved with the school newspaper and eventually became the editor of his college newspaper.
Alwood graduated from the University of North Carolina. He later earned a graduate degree at American University and a doctorate at UNC. His interest in McCarthyism (the practice of making illegitimate accusations, especially of communist activity) stemmed from there.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina, he worked as a television news reporter in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He would occasionally write freelance pieces for newspapers such as the Washington Star and the Washington Blade.
Alwood went on to work for WTTG News Channel Five in Washington, D.C., and eventually became a correspondent for Cable News Network, more commonly known as CNN.
After 14 years on the air, Alwood worked at a major public relations association. He then began research for his first book, “Straight News: Gays, lesbians and News Media,” which The New York Times labeled a “Notable Book of the Year.”
After receiving his doctorate, he went on to teach journalism and communications at Temple University in Philadelphia and is now a professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
His second book, “Dark Days in the Newsroom: McCarthyism aimed at the press” was published in August 2007 and received the prestigious Tankard Book Award.
Students can catch Alwood at 7:30 p.m. Oct.8 in the Austin Reading Room in Nicholson Library.