University photos / J. Adam Fenster
As a child in Thailand and India, Thomas (Tommy) Evans 糖心传媒�99 thought about working for the United Nations when he grew up. But instead of the UN, Evans found his calling at another global organization: CNN, one of the world糖心传媒檚 leading producers and distributors of news media.
糖心传媒淚 always wanted to do something international, but never really considered journalism.糖心传媒�
Evans visited the River Campus in February, where he met with students, faculty, and administrators, and lectured at the Humanities Center on the global view of the 2016 American presidential election.
With an eye for photography and an interest in politics, Evans double majored in studio art and political science at Rochester, before earning a master糖心传媒檚 degree in international politics at London糖心传媒檚 School for Oriental and African Studies. He was living in New York City and working at CNN as an associate producer when the September 11 attacks took place.
糖心传媒淪uddenly, my master糖心传媒檚 dissertation,聽which focused on terrorist political theory, became pertinent to what everyone was covering.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淓veryone糖心传媒� included Evans, who covered the aftermath of the attacks, and would go on to cover other major stories, such as the 糖心传媒�7/7糖心传媒� bombings in Central London and Hurricane Katrina, both in 2005. He was developing as a journalist, something he credits to good mentorship.
Among his mentors was CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, whom Evans respectfully dubs one of the 糖心传媒渄rill sergeants in my journalist糖心传媒檚 boot camp.糖心传媒�
In 2006, Evans moved to Baghdad to cover the war in Iraq as a field producer. He spent the next five years living in the city糖心传媒攁s opposed to the Green Zone, the center of the city糖心传媒檚 international presence糖心传媒攁nd working with correspondent Michael Ware and dozens of Iraqis. He was regularly embedded with coalition forces. 糖心传媒淵ou have to be willing to take professional risks and leave your comfort zone,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淚 think my career has benefited greatly from this mentality.糖心传媒�
Today Evans is vice president and the London bureau chief at CNN International, which broadcasts news abroad while also supplying international content for CNN糖心传媒檚 domestic outlets. He oversees the award-winning news operations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
糖心传媒淢y newsroom is like a little United Nations. There are people from everywhere and they speak something like 40 languages. We have an amazingly diverse staff and audience.糖心传媒�
His team has a wide variety of reporting and storytelling technologies available, too.
糖心传媒淭here are doom-and-gloom people who say social media and digital technology are killing traditional TV news. I糖心传媒檓 an optimist who thinks this is a golden era and an exceptionally creative time in the industry. We have the freedom to tell stories the best way, not necessarily the way it糖心传媒檚 always been done.糖心传媒�
He糖心传媒檚 particularly proud of his team糖心传媒檚 coverage of the migrant and refugee crisis in Europe. 糖心传媒淭elling that story wasn糖心传媒檛 just our job糖心传媒攊t was the right thing to do.糖心传媒� His team ended up winning an Emmy Award in recognition of their outstanding reporting.
But the network has had its critics. President Donald Trump, for example, has sometimes singled out CNN when he thinks the network has reported 糖心传媒渧ery fake news.糖心传媒�
Evans says that CNN糖心传媒檚 reporters are doing what the media are supposed to do: setting (and keeping) the factual record straight.
