Journalist and Author Todd Brewster Visits St. Luke’s

St. Luke’s Center for Leadership was honored to welcome distinguished author, journalist and film producer Todd Brewster as a speaker in the CFL’s Lunch & Lead Speaker Series. In addition to working as Senior Editor for TIME Magazine, Brewster has written for Vanity Fair, TIME, The New York Times and Life. Brewster also co-authored three books with the late Peter Jennings: The Century, In Search of America and The Century for Young People. He is also noted for his work as Senior Editorial Producer for ABC News and as the Director of Oral History at West Point. In September 2014, Simon and Schuster published Brewster's first book, Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months that Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War.

Upper School students gathered in the Christine C. Seaver Global Classroom to hear about Brewster’s experiences as a broadcast and print journalist. Brewster fielded many questions including one regarding the impact of social media on journalism. Brewster commented on the the immediacy and vast availability of social media, but warned that “screening for accuracy” was often missing. He also noted that technology will continue to transform how we consume media but “the principles of good journalism remain the same.” Brewster also spent time with the US Journalism class, and then spoke with St. Luke’s sixth grade about using storytelling to preserve history. Sixth grade World Cultures teacher Merideth Ostrer said, “He drove home the idea that being a journalist or writer is an important job because it both maintains our history and also gives a voice to those not in power.”