Former CBS News White House correspondent Randall Pinkston (far right) with his 2015 winter intersession class at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media.
OXFORD, Miss. – With more than 6,000 stories to his credit, award-winning former “CBS Evening News” correspondent Randall Pinkston has covered everything from the White House to caves at Tora Bora, from the Trayvon Martin case to the selection of Pope Francis.
Yet, standing in front of a classroom full of University of Mississippi students on a daily basis is still a thrilling experience for the seasoned broadcaster.
Pinkston is on campus teaching Media Performance for the third time this winter intersession. His primary objective is to expose students to techniques that will assist them in performing on-camera. The course also focuses on writing and how sentence structure can affect one’s delivery, whether on-camera or to an audience in the room.
“I was introduced to broadcast journalism by people who saw potential abilities in me that I did not see in myself,” said the Yazoo County native, who is in his third year as an adjunct professor in the university’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media. “I am just trying to share some of what I have learned with some of the next generation of journalists.”
Pinkston, a recipient of the Silver Em (UM’s highest award to journalists from Mississippi), first accepted the position here after CBS colleague Sharyn Alfonsi suggested that he devote part of his retirement to teaching at her alma mater.
“I told her that it was a good idea, but I knew no one at Ole Miss,” he said. “‘I’ll fix that’, she said. About a week later, thanks to Ms. Alfonsi, I was contacted by Dean Will Norton and Professor Deborah Wenger.”
Wenger mentioned winter intersession as a possibility. Pinkston suggested teaching Media Performance. Charles Mitchell, the school’s assistant dean, made the arrangements and six months later, Pinkston was in Oxford teaching his first class.
“To have a faculty member who has covered the news all over the world and who knows his Mississippi roots is to have a teacher who understands his students,” Norton said. “Randall Pinkston is a respected journalist who can communicate what it takes to be an elite journalist.
“Mr. Pinkston is someone who, in addition to being a fine classroom teacher, is a model for our students to emulate.”
Mitchell agrees. “Randall gets great comments from students.”
Pinkston said it is especially rewarding when students tell him that what he taught has made a difference for them, personally.
“I certainly hope (to return next year) but, ultimately, that decision is determined by Dean Norton and his staff,” Pinkston said.
Pinkston was first exposed to broadcasting as a student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. There, he applied for and was accepted as a disc jockey on the student-operated FM radio station.
“I sent a picture of me behind the control board of WESU-FM to my father,” he said. “Dad showed it to his minister, the Rev. Wendell P. Taylor of Central United Methodist Church in Jackson.”
Following his father’s death, Pinkston transferred to Millsaps College, where he eventually earned his bachelor’s degree in history.
“Rev. Taylor suggested that I apply for an on-the-job training program in WLBT-TV’s news department,” Pinston said. “I didn’t get that position, but I was hired, part-time, at WJDX-FM. That position eventually led to part-time and, later, full-time work at WLBT-TV.”
After attending the Michelle Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists at Columbia University, Pinkston was promoted to WLBT’s 6 p.m. newscast, making him the first African-American to anchor the No. 1 newscast at Mississippi’s top television station. He later held positions with WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida, and WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut.
While working in Hartford, Pinkston earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He became a correspondent with WCBS-TV, where he worked until he was appointed as a CBS News White House correspondent.
Pinkston reported on stories of national and international significance, from the Persian Gulf War to the nomination of Justice Clarence Thomas.
In 1994, he moved to the CBS New York news bureau and served as a correspondent for “CBS Evening News” as well as a contributor, reporter and correspondent for other CBS news broadcasts, including CBS Reports, “48 Hours” and “CBS Sunday Morning.” In 2013, Pinkston ended a 33-year career with the network. His final report included an interview with Myrlie Evers Williams on Medgar Evers’ efforts to open broadcasting to minorities.
Pinkston has also worked as an adjunct professor at the City University of New York School of Journalism and as a freelance journalist for Al Jazeera America.
Pinkston’s work was first recognized by the Great New York Safety Council for his reporting on underage drunk driving and its influence in the shaping of New York state law on underage drinking and driving. He is the recipient of a national Emmy award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for his work on CBS Reports’ “Legacy of Shame,” and two other national Emmy awards for reporting on the death of Princess Diana and the TWA Flight 800 crash. He has also received a Community Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for a report on the AIDS crisis among African-Americans.
Pinkston lives with his wife, Patricia McLain, in Teaneck, New Jersey.
For more about UM’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media, visit http://www.meek.olemiss.edu.