Arianna Huffington Visits Stony Brook University

  Arianna Huffington, co-founder, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post and author of over a dozen books spoke to Stony Brook University students at the Staller Center on Monday, Oct 25. The event was the result of THiNK Magazine's winning a national contest to host a date on Huffington's book tour.

Adam Peck, editor-in-chief of THiNK Magazine introduced the journalist, who would be talking with Howard Schneider, dean of the university's School of Journalism and moderator for the evening.

 For about an hour Huffington fielded questions from Schneider and then answered queries posed by the audience and submitted via twitter.

  Topics of discussion stemmed from concepts in her latest book, Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream.

She noted that a third world nation is one without a middle class and that with a Wall Street-centric view, the rules that apply to our elite are not the same for the middle class.

  "We went from a country that makes things to a country that makes things up," she said. But Huffington commented that for Americans there is still time to sound the alarm before the iceberg hits.

 While many questions pertained to current events, the elections and the tea party, students were curious about her views on the future of media. Concerned for what constitutes real journalism in a viral world, they sought her opinions.

"This is a golden age for journalism," she stated. "Social media can amplify a message and misinformation can be corrected quickly." She insisted that students out of college are some of the best journalists.  She believes that citizen journalists have the opportunity to tell stories from people with access to the community. However, in the realm of the internet reporting, facts have to be constantly checked.

Following the interview Huffington autographed copies of her latest book which were available for purchase.

 Economics major and operations intern with WUSB 90.1 (the campus radio station)Farjad Fazil said Huffington's talk was interesting and informative. A reader of the Huffington Post for years he commented, "It was a great opportunity to be able to meet and learn from a real life media pundit in charge of a large and reputable online news organization."

 Arianna Huffington will be attending the Jon Stewart Rally for Restoring Sanity on Oct. 30 in Washington, DC.