How did Eastern Kentucky University’s “worst” student become an award-winning war reporter and, now, a senior producer for a provocative documentary series on HBO.
Jeff Newton will take his audience along for his life’s journey when he presents “Oh, How I Miss T-Bombs: Ramblings on Global Conflicts from EKU’s Worst Student and Best War Reporter.” The event, on Wednesday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Reading Room of John Grant Crabbe Main Library, is sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the EKU International Alumni Association. It is free and open to the public.
A member of EKU’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni, Newton served as editor of The Eastern Progress in 1990-91. He left Eastern a few credits shy of graduation before returning to complete a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1997. He began shooting, editing and broadcasting war stories from the Middle East in 2001, armed only with a mini-cam and a laptop, making him one of the first “backpack journalists,” covering combat zones as a free-lance journalist. He went on to serve 13 years as a producer for TV’s “60 Minutes,” covering some of the world’s most volatile conflicts, endangering his own life so that viewers could make sense of some of significant current events. In August 2015, Newton joined HBO’s “Vice” as a senior producer for stories and content.
Newton is a two-time Emmy Award recipient and a winner of the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Alfred I. duPont Award presented by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and the David Kaplan Award from the Overseas Press Club of America.
A reception will follow Newton’s talk. Parking will be available in the Adams House Lot on Lancaster Avenue (at the intersection of Lancaster Avenue and Crabbe Street).
By the way, the T-Bombs referenced in Newton’s speech title was T Bombadils, at one time a popular student hangout in downtown Richmond.