A Bear in the News

Ashley Killough, B.A. ’09, calls herself a storyteller. A journalism and international studies major, she has always been a curious person — curious about the world, the people in it and how they interact with each other across divides. During her time at Baylor, her curiosity led her to inquire about the Fulbright program.

In her senior year at Baylor, Killough was awarded the Fulbright to spend a year in Armenia following graduation where she was a research intern at the Caucasus Media Institute in Yerevan. She studied how a 20-day period, during which the government shut down the independent media, was framed in the state-run media channels versus the blogosphere.

“I was unfamiliar with Armenia until I took a course on geopolitical ethnic conflicts,” Killough said. “It’s a tiny Christian nation surrounded by mostly Muslim nations, and I found that interesting. I became fixated on it.” 

Killough said one of her biggest advocates during the Fulbright process was Elizabeth Vardaman, B.A. ’65, M.A. ’80, former associate dean for engaged learning, who helped establish Baylor in the Fulbright Program. She also highly credits her community in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core (BIC).

“The BIC program was the first experience I had where the focus was on building a balanced individual,” Killough said. “I loved the format of the smaller groups and so many of the books we read still stick with me today.” 

After her Fulbright year, Killough completed her master’s program in broadcast journalism at Colombia University. From there, she followed a politics fellowship at CNN to Washington D.C., where she began to write and report for their political blog, The Political Ticker. 

As the 2016 presidential campaign began, CNN sent Killough on the campaign trail where she traveled extensively to follow 17 Republican candidates along their campaign tour stops. 

“You become a database of information about the candidates,” Killough said. “You track everything they say so that you can flag when something is new or contradictory to something they said previously.” 

Killough covered policy and politics in both chambers of Congress after the 2016 election and has been in her current role as a senior producer at CNN Dallas since September 2019. 

“As my career as a storyteller has advanced, I realized there are a lot more stories out there to tell,” Killough said. “I felt drawn to some of the stories our correspondents were doing and wanted to get more of that experience under my belt.”

Killough was tossed into the deep end; she started her position in Dallas just months before COVID-19 hit. Along with medical information and perspective stories, her team focused on many of the economic and community impacts on real families. 

In the ever-changing and challenging landscape of journalism, Killough is rooting for the next generation of journalists. 

“Be as adaptable as possible; be as curious as possible,” Killough said. “Never say no to an opportunity because you will always learn something.”