Adjunct professor Robert Klemko authored one of 15 stories and contributed to another story in a Washington Post series honored this month with a Pulitzer Award for National Reporting "for its sobering examination of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which forced readers to reckon with the horrors wrought by the weapon often used for mass shootings in America," writes the Pulitzer board.
Aram Sinnreich was interviewed by the Capital News Service in a piece about how country music has morphed into the mainstream.
Aram also did two interviews with KCBS Radio: one live interview about the new Comcast streaming bundle, and what the “bundling” strategy means for the future of on-demand filmed entertainment; and one interview about Sony Music’s letter to 700 tech firms warning them to get a license before training AI models on their copyrighted music content.
Finally, Aram and his co-author Jesse Gilbert did a podcast interview about their recently released book The Secret Life of Data with the Secure Talk Podcast. This is available on: Soundcloud; Spotify; and Apple Podcast.
Natalie Hopkinson published an essay in the Huffington Post on journalists who write about Black neighborhoods centered on a first-hand account of her encounter with a shady journalist from a British tabloid.
Natalie also had this piece earlier this semester about women in go-go with the Smithsonian magazine - part of a series of oral history projects I have been collaborating with curators there for several years and the whole multimedia project finally saw the light of day during Women’s History Month.
Professor Emeritus Charles Lewis is being honored at the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Anaheim, California, which runs from June 20-23.
Chuck is being given two honors:
IRE will award him in the Ring of Honor, which celebrates members who have made a significant contribution to the organization and to investigative journalism. Chuck founded the Center for Public Integrity and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and then created the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. He co-founded the Investigative News Network, now known as the Institute for Nonprofit News. This tribute will be announced at IRE's awards luncheon.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists plans to honor Chuck as well with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the International luncheon. Chuck's influence was felt far beyond the States.
Professors John Sullivan and Chris Halsne will attend IRE this summer.
Students in Jane Hall’s Advanced Reporting class completed their final stories for the semester, an issue or trend piece on their chosen beats. These final stories include a great array of serious, ambitious topics. You can see them here on the class blog. Topics for these final stories include licensing street vendors, people securing and taking non-prescription stimulants to “self-medicate” for ADHD, “citizen scientists” working to protect drinking water and waterways, free speech and other issues in efforts to protect children’s privacy and children online, how interfaith organizations are working to combat antisemitism and Islamaphobia, harmful guardianships for disabled people, AI chatbots and disinformation, “ghost kitchens” and the true costs of food-delivery apps, the impact of a defendant’s celebrity on criminal and other topics. You can read all the stories here.
The recording of the American Forum with veteran Democrat political strategist Donna Brazile and students about young voters’ issues and role in the 2024 presidential election premiered on NBC Washington’s streaming channel and will have multiple airings—see the dates and times ET below. The NBC Washington link at the top of the list is live, and you can view the program on these dates and times ET on your computer anywhere in the U.S.
SOC grad and undergrad students in journalism and political communication—Fabianna Rincon, Audrey Hill, Victoria Brousseau, Aujenee Douglas and Abigail Lynn Williams—asked Brazile important questions about declining support for Joe Biden and the Democrats among young Latino and Black voters, how the Democrats are messaging and doing outreach, and issues for Biden in young people’s views on the Israel-Hamas war and the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We also talked about intersectionality in media and politics and Brazile’s career as the first African American woman to lead a presidential campaign and her advice for our students on careers.
Jane Hall interviewed Brazile and moderated the student Q&A.
American Forum with Donna Brazile
Monday, May 13 - 8 p.m. (premiere); Tuesday, May 14 - 9 p.m.; Wednesday, May 15 - 9 p.m.; Thursday, May 16 - 8 p.m.; Friday, May 17 - 10 p.m.; Saturday, May 18 - 3 p.m., 5 p.m.; Sunday, May 19 - 3 p.m., 6 p.m.; Saturday, May 25 - 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m.; Sunday, May 26 - 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m.
Streaming on www.NBCWashington.com/watch/ and on the NBC4 app; The Roku Channel — Channel 4141; Samsung TV Plus — Channel 1035; Xumo Play — Look for the channel under the Local News section; Pluto TV — Look for the channel under the Local News section; Amazon Fire TV — Visit the Fire TV home screen, click on the News app and select our channel; Google TV - Look for the channel name in the guide; Freevee — Look for News4 programming in the News section; TCL Televisions; Local Now — Channel 3820 or look under the My City section on the channel guide
Jill Olmsted’s Tools for Podcasting ebook, which is constantly updated with fast-changing information, has gone global. The Open Educational Resource (OER) is being used and adapted at the University of Galway; this follows the book being used at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, where they requested that the Creative Commons license be changed because of European Union rules. That was done after consultation with AU library and law school representatives.
Jill Olmsted also shared a breakfast meeting this week at the DC bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, with young journalists in the Vaclav Havel Journalism Fellowship Program for aspiring, independent journalists in the European Union’s Eastern Partnership countries and the Russian Federation. The Fellows met with Jill, NPR’s Michele Kelemen, who covers the State Department and Damir Marusic of The Washington Post. Such contacts paid off for the latest graduate Reporting of Public Affairs class after Jill and Kristi Plahn-Gjersvold met with an RFE contact last May, and then were able to utilize the contact to secure an interview for a podcast on disinformation for thewash.org.
John C. Watson spoke Wednesday at a panel titled "Is Censorship Ever Necessary or Justified?"presented by Blackfriars Hall and Campion Hall at Oxford University and the Free Speech Project and theFuture of the Humanities Project at Georgetown University. The panel included John Drakakis, emeritus professor of English studies at the University of Stirling in Scotland, Catherine Pepinster, a British journalist / author and Kate Ruane, an attorney and director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Free Expression Project. Sanford J. Ungar, the first dean of SOC, moderated the discussion.
