(November 22, 2016 – Petersburg, Va.) – Mr. Roland S. Martin, host and managing editor for News One Now, will be Virginia State University’s fall commencement speaker scheduled for Saturday, December 10 at 10 a.m. in the VSU Multipurpose Center.
Over the course of a journalistic career that has seen him interview newsmakers ranging from multiple U.S. presidents to the top athletes and entertainers in Hollywood, Roland S. Martin is a journalist who has always maintained a clear sense of his calling in this world.
Martin is the host and managing editor of TV One’s News One Now, the first daily morning news program in history to focus on news and analysis of politics, entertainment, sports, and culture from an explicitly African American perspective. News One Now airs weekdays on TV One at 7AM/ET.
Martin is also the creator and host of “The Roland Martin Show,” a daily syndicated radio broadcast in 20 markets across the country; a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate and the Daily Beast; as well as senior analyst for the Tom Joyner Morning Show, where his daily segment is heard on more than 100 stations by 8 million people.
Honored with the 2013 National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) Journalist of the Year Award, Martin is a two-time winner of the NAACP Image Award and has received more than 40 professional media awards, as well as honors by numerous organizations for his contributions to the media. Martin spent six years as a CNN Contributor, and as a member of the network’s “Best Political Team on Television” he earned the esteemed Peabody Award (2009) for his 2008 Presidential Election coverage. Roland has been named three times to Ebony Magazine’s 150 Most Influential African Americans list and was also named one of the Top 50 Political Pundits by the Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom.
Martin is the author of three books: “Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith;” “Speak, Brother! A Black Man’s View of America;” and “The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House” as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.
Roland is married to the Rev. Jacque Hood Martin, author of “Fulfilled! The Art and Joy of Balanced Living.” They reside in Washington, D.C.
