Prof. Joseph Alicastro is a faculty member of the School of Communication, Media, and Arts program at Sacred Heart University. In addition to teaching, Alicastro also had a career as a producer at NBC for over 30 years.
“I have always loved history and there is a well known line that ‘journalists write the first draft of history,’” said Alicastro. “So, I think that connection was already there at an early age because I used to read a lot of history books when I was young.”
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.shuspectrum.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_7446.jpg?resize=640%2C573&ssl=1)
Portrait of former NBC producer, and current Sacred Heart
University professor, Joseph Alicastro.
Contributed by Joseph Alicastro
Little did he know that he would go on to cover historic events like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, and the war in Afghanistan, writing the “first draft of history” himself.
Alicastro attended Boston University (BU), where he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcasting and Film. After graduating, he went on to work on a short documentary, and with the help from a BU alumnus, he secured a job at NBC.
“I was a dispatcher. We would send couriers on motorcycles and cars, racing around New York City, picking up video tapes and rushing it back to 30 Rock just to get them into the hands of the people who were actually doing journalism,” said Alicastro. “It was an entry level job, but it was a start, and I was in the door.”
By the age of 26, Alicastro was a producer for Weekend Nightly News on NBC. Throughout his career, Alicastro had the “honor and privilege” of traveling the world covering essentially everything and everyone he had the opportunity to experience.
“Not only do you have this great privilege as a journalist to be out there and reporting, but you give a voice to the voiceless,” said Alicastro. “Unfortunately as a journalist, you often meet people on the worst days of their lives, but they need to have their stories told.”
After leaving NBC, Alicastro began his “second act”: teaching. He started at the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, and after meeting Prof. James Castonguay, he began working at SHU.
At SHU, Alicastro teaches full-time and serves as the Director of the Graduate Program in Journalism and Media Production. Alongside this, he works with students on The Pulse, SHU’s student-produced television news magazine.
As a professor, Alicastro emphasizes the importance of media literacy in his curriculum, helping students understand the difference between what is real and reliable versus what is fake.
“The role journalists play in today’s society comes down to just one word: truth. Truth is based on facts, and facts are gained. That’s what ajournalist does by asking very simple questions: who, what, where, when, why, how?” said Alicastro. “An algorithm on TikTok is not journalism.”
Former Editor-in-Chief of the Spectrum and Class of 2024 alumnus, Brendan Williams, took many classes with Alicastro during his time at SHU and is now a production assistant for FOX5NY in New York City.
“I learned a lot about how to be a good journalist because he comes with a lot of expertise,” said Williams. “He truly does care about his students.”
On top of his successful journalism career, he takes equal pride in teaching.
“It has been a joy to be the director of the graduate program and see the incredible success my students are having,” said Alicastro. “That just gives me tremendous satisfaction to see them out there.”
Moira Staples contributed to this article.