TCU graduate receives Cronkite Award
By Lauren Hanvey
Staff Reporter

Jay Warren, a 1994 graduate, was honored Tuesday in Las Vegas with the Walter Cronkite Award for Individual Achievement given by the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communications.

Warren has worked for the NBC affiliate station in Roanoke, Virginia since 1998 and is the chief political reporter and weekend anchor at WSLS. He received the award for two news series reports he did about the 2002 congressional elections. Warren said he feels honored to have received the award.

“To be listed among a group as distinguished as this is truly humbling,” Warren said. “I think much of the credit should go to my station’s management. They’ve shown a strong commitment to covering political and government stories.”

Warren said his interest in politics dates back to his TCU days. As an undergraduate, he was vice president of the Student Government Association and interned at the White House.

Tommy Thomason, chairman of the journalism department, said there was never any doubt that Warren would succeed when he was at TCU.

“He was a very good student — hard working kind of a guy,” he said.

Thomason said Warren was always willing to make sacrifices in order to meet his goals.

According to a news release, the stories that won Warren the Cronkite Award impressed the judges with their innovative approach to election coverage. The judges said the first series showed how viewers would be personally affected by the election results, while the second series revealed how the power of incumbents make a race less competitive.

Warren’s news director, Shane Moreland, said he is continually impressed with Warren’s reporting.

“Jay Warren has a strong drive to take our political reporting out of the traditional politicians’ point of view and make it count to the everyday person,” he said. “It is gratifying to see that our journalism in this important area has been recognized as some of the best in the entire country.”

Gene Alpert, senior vice president of the Washington Center where Warren interned in college and later worked full time, said Warren is deserving of the award.

l.e.hanvey@tcu.edu