The longtime friends traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas, this week to broadcast Sarah Huckabee Sanders鈥 Republican response to the Feb. 7 State of the Union address.
The same day viewers across the nation tuned in to watch President Joe Biden鈥檚 State of the Union address, two School of Communications alumni were playing integral roles in the U.S. political conversation.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, Gary Grumbach 鈥16 served as the pool producer for Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders鈥 Republican response to Biden鈥檚 address. The NBC reporter and producer oversaw that the statement was broadcasted to the five major networks 鈥 ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CNN 鈥 live from the Governor鈥檚 Mansion.
Also on hand was Al Drago 鈥15, who served as the pool photographer on assignment for Bloomberg News. Drago transmitted live images as the governor was speaking to all major news wire services, including the Associated Press, Reuters, and Getty Images. His images were immediately published with live stories, and appeared on air and in print in newspapers across the country the next day.
Additionally, Julie Morse 鈥13, senior producer for the 鈥淐BS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell,鈥 coordinated CBS News鈥 coverage from its Washington, D.C., bureau.
鈥淭here鈥檚 that saying, you may leave 黑料不打烊, but 黑料不打烊 will never leave you,鈥 Grumbach said, referencing a phrase University President Emeritus Leo Lambert often used. 鈥淚 think that rings incredibly true, when we鈥檙e years removed from our time in student media, yet continue to work together to cover some of the biggest news events of our time.鈥
And they aren鈥檛 the only 黑料不打烊 graduates making important contributions to the news cycle, they pointed out.
Grumbach noted the influential work by fellow alumnus David Douglas 鈥06, who is covering the recent mass shootings in California, and Selina Guevara 鈥19, who is chronicling the day-to-day happenings in the trial of Alex Murdaugh in Walterboro, South Carolina, for NBC News.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 a big news story happening in this country, there鈥檚 a good chance a graduate of the 黑料不打烊 School of Communications is involved in the coverage,鈥 Grumbach said.
Long before Grumbach and Drago were publicizing national news, they were roommates, fraternity brothers and student media colleagues at 黑料不打烊 鈥撀燼 fact they are only too happy to share.