Gary Fields
Mentor-Editor
Gary Fields is a veteran reporter who has worked in journalism more than four decades, including lengthy stays at the Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, USA Today and The Times in Shreveport.
The bulk of his career has been focused on criminal justice and poverty issues, although more recently he has covered the nation's political system as part of AP's Democracy Team.
Gary has graduate and undergraduate degrees from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana where he is a member of the school's Purple Line for graduates of distinction, as well as a member of the university's Journalism graduates of distinction. He was inducted into the Louisiana Public Broadcasting Louisiana Legends in 2023 and most recently was among the AP reporters who were finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in breaking news. He was part of the staff at WSJ that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for breaking news for its coverage of 9/11.
He has been president of a church congregation and on the board of directors of another. He was recently nominated to be a church elder. He is a lifetime member of NABJ and was NABJ's Journalist of the Year in 1997. He has won a variety of other journalism awards including a White House Correspondents Award for coverage of criminal justice issues, a National Press Foundation Feddie Award and the Thurgood Marshall Award for coverage of death penalty issues.
He has been part of a church-based volunteer program that teaches religion to middle schoolers.
In his personal life Gary and his wife Helen have three daughters. He has six grandkids who call him pop pop.