Troy Turner is editor-in-chief and the senior consultant with AlaDefense.com.
Experience (photos below)
Troy is a veteran journalist with 30-plus years of national award-winning writing and senior management experience, ranging from the smallest to largest of markets, including with Digital First Media, once the second-largest newspaper company in the nation. Based in New York with a national bureau in Washington, D.C., he helped with the print-to-digital transformation of 75-plus daily and 400-plus non-daily newsrooms, while also helping to lead national news coverage for syndication. Additionally, he was a leader in creating multiple partnerships with nationally recognized media, academic, government, private and military-related entities.
He has served as the senior editor and editorial executive in newsrooms across the country, including Colorado, Alabama, New York and New Mexico; and on national boards of directors. He also has served as a repeat juror for the Pulitzer Prizes, which are judged at Columbia University in New York. His list of fellowships includes those from Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Washington & Lee universities.
Troy’s international experience includes travel to Jordan, India, South Africa, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada and Europe.
Included among his many awards is the Robert G. McGruder Award, the newspaper industry’s highest honor for diversity leadership, presented in St. Louis jointly by The Freedom Forum, the Associated Press Media Editors association, and the American Society of News Editors. He received a similar award in New York from Columbia University for career achievement in investigative journalism and combating racism, based on work done in the American South and on the Navajo Nation.
His writing awards include a wide array of national recognition for his commentary, explanatory journalism and opinion writing, as well as for features/profiles that tell people stories, and for his crisis response leadership in several major incidents reported in international headlines.
Troy also has a wide range of experience as a public speaker, including numerous television/radio interviews on national/international networks, teaching college classes, panels, presentations, and emceeing large-audience events such as previous Associated Press/APME awards banquets in New Orleans and Baltimore.
Education
MASTER’S DEGREE: History/international relations; Jacksonville State University
BACHELOR’S DEGREE: journalism/public relations; Auburn University
Contact: [email protected] X: @troyturnernews
Troy Turner with former President Jimmy Carter during one of several of their meetings over the years. After this interview, Turner joined Carter’s work team for a week building a home with Habitat for Humanity.
Troy Turner meeting with the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the presidential palace in Caracas. After talks about more serious issues such as oil, politics, press freedoms and national security, the conversation ended with talk of baseball.
Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl, center, and Congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in a meeting arranged by Troy Turner, left, to discuss several issues, including security for Israel. Pearl, who is Jewish, is a staunch proponent of Israeli interests. Rogers, meanwhile, was interested in Auburn’s facilities and its viewpoints on NIL legislation. Turner has worked with both men for several years.
Riding with the flight crew aboard a vintage World War II B-17 bomber. Turner’s research and interviews with veterans regarding WWII history has included almost a dozen flights logged on B-17 and B-24 bombers.
Turner, right, shown sitting with a Major League Baseball scout for the Minnesota Twins. Turner once served as director of MLB/NCAA scouting for the Connie Mack World Series.
Auburn basketball’s AUTLIVE Cancer program is among the pro bono projects served by Turner, who in 2020 introduced the idea of creating placards for all 9,000-plus fans in Auburn Arena to hold up during a pre-game ceremony that is featured with national television exposure. It’s now an annual tradition.
“Boody” Brown, shown here being interviewed by Turner, served a role behind enemy lines in World War II in what now is the CIA.
Colorado’s Lost Squadron, a book first published in 1998 that sold out its first edition within six months, documents more than 100 crashes, incidents and aviation oddities that occurred in Colorado during World War II; authored by Troy Turner.
Research for the book involved tracking down crash survivors who remained alive at the time; and long, strenuous hikes into wilderness areas of the Rocky Mountains in search of crash debris that still exists on site.
