By Tribune Staff
NASHVILLE, TN — As a part of its continuing mission to update and inform its readership, as well as participate in the ongoing revolution in newsgathering and technology, the Tennessee Tribune has expanded the video end of its operation. This week we began an extensive and exhaustive new series designed to spotlight prominent newsmakers and critical issues affecting not only communities of color, but the entire city, region and state. Such a series certainly merits its own name, and we’re calling it “Trending With The Tribune.”
“Trending With The Tribune” does more than highlight the latest names, events, personalities and items causing a buzz on social media. It gives readers the opportunity to see and hear those folks whose input, strategies and decisions affect their daily lives. They get their reactions and responses to insightful questions presented from knowledgeable and experienced journalists. This is a chance for Tribune readers to get more than sound bites and surface responses from major figures on key policy matters.
These in-depth conversations are conducted either by Tribune staffers or special guest interviewers recruited for their expertise in the subject matter and related coverage areas. Our first guests for “Trending With The Tribune” were Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos and and coming soon will be Fisk University President Kevin Rome.
Zeppos has been particularly courageous in addressing issues of diversity and inclusion on the Vanderbilt campus, most notably dealing in a decisive and timely manner with the question of a name change for a dorm formerly named after a Confederate hero. He’s also an ardent support of affirmative action in admissions, and making sure that the faculty represents a broad spectrum of American society.
Rome has just taken his new position after being President of another HBCU, Lincoln University of Missouri, and also has previously been an administrator at North Carolina Central. He discussed the state of HBCUs in the 21st century, Fisk’s current situation, his future plans for the institution and other areas. Both men also assessed other issues regarding higher education, fundraising, diversity and others.
Future “Trending With The Tribune” guests will be drawn from multiple constituencies, including representatives from the Latino, LGBTQ, Native and Asian communities, as well as social justice and Civil Rights organizations, advocacy groups, politicians, business people, even athletes and entertainers.
The guest interviewer from Washington, D.C. for “Trending With The Tribune’s” first segment was distinguished, award-winning journalist Reginald Stuart. He’s a 45-year newspaper veteran whose tenure has included everything from covering Presidential campaigns to being a talent scout recruiter and national correspondent for multiple big city publications. Stuart was at the New York Times for over two decades, and also worked at the Philadelphia Daily News and as part of the Knight-Ridder organization. In addition to periodic contributions to many publications including the Tribune for the past 25 years, he’s currently part of the team at the ESPN website “The Undefeated,” and is a past national President of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Catch “Trending With The Tribune” our website at TnTribune.com coming soon.
