Abby Stone ‘26 & Catherine Zhang ‘26
Alex Ward ‘08 stepped foot on St. Mark’s campus much earlier than the typical freshman in ‘90s as a faculty kid. Now, over three decades later, he arrived as part of a two-person panel for the first Gray Colloquium of the 2025-2026 school year.
On September 6th, two members from the Gray Colloquium committee hosted Wall Street Journal White House Correspondent Ward and Politico journalist Nahal Toosi for the first Gray Colloquium of the year. The theme of the panel was: “Journalism in a Fraught World.”
Although both journalists specialize in foreign policy, Ward and Toosi arrived at journalism through different paths.
While Ward did not write for the St. Marker nor his college’s newspaper, he picked up the journalistic reins quickly at Vox Media.
“My second day as a reporter, Trump, during the first Trump administration, fired then FBI director, Jim Comey. And immediately, my editors were like, ‘We have no time to teach you how to be a reporter. Just start doing it,’’’ he recalled. “Vox ended up being my journalism school effectively.”
Toosi, on the other hand, joined the newspaper at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina. “Seeing my first byline in print was like lightning striking, and I knew I had to keep doing it,” she said.
For both Ward and Toosi, 9/11 was an influential event that drove their interest in covering foreign policy. In fact, Toosi was one of the first foreign correspondents to arrive in Pakistan to cover the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
She detailed, “When Bin Laden was killed, I was in Pakistan and quickly went to Abbottabad to report. Spending several days outside the house, talking to people, and covering such an intense and important moment really certified my passion for journalism.”
A central question of the panel was how to balance reporting critical facts about presidential administrations without losing access to these top officials.
“The key is fairness,” Ward advised. Present their main talking points and perspectives faithfully before offering criticism.”
In light of the media’s current limited access to the Trump administration, Toosi explained, “The best information comes not from the country itself but from capitals like Washington, where intelligence officials and academic institutions have access to better data.” Further, she said, “You have to cast a wide net and sometimes wait for the truth to emerge over time.”
A.I. is especially relevant in journalism because it can assist writers and quickly provide information, but there is concern about relying on it too much. During the panel, both speakers touched on A.I., saying that it can be a wonderful tool when used appropriately, but should not replace intellectual thinking. Ward commented that summarizing sources is a decent place to start, but one’s understanding of material should never end with a ChatGPT summary.
Toosi made an analogy to A.I., saying, “You want to have the best running shoes, but you don’t want to take steroids, and you don’t want someone to run for you.”
Rather than simply relying on artificial intelligence, the speakers encouraged the audience to put on their own reporter caps and go to the original source when possible.
Ultimately, the first Gray Colloquium emphasized the importance of engaging with unbiased journalism in a world with increased polarization and a torrent of misinformation.
Ward concluded, “Journalism is an honor and a responsibility to be the eyes and ears of the public. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a worthy and noble job for those interested in telling the truth and informing society.”