Category: Featured Class Notes

A Wall Street Journal reporting team with Medill alumni Deepa Seetharaman (BSJ08) and Emily Glazer (BSJ10) won a 2021 George Polk Award for Business Reporting for their series “Facebook Files.”

Long Island University gave further insight into the selection:

“Reporter Jeff Horwitz and the staff of the Wall Street Journal have won the Business Reporting award for “Facebook Files,” an explosive series documenting how Facebook (now Meta) ignored internal findings that company practices promoted anger, divisiveness and extremism; protected drug cartels, human traffickers and dictators; and endangered teenage girls susceptible to body-image concerns, anxiety and depression. Files Horwitz obtained from a whistleblower demonstrated that top executives rejected fixes they feared might reduce profitability or create political friction.”

Cornelius “Neil” Foote (MSJ84) was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame, selected by the board and his peers, as a part of the 2021 class of Inductees. Foote is one of eight inductees to receive the prestigious honor.

Since graduating with a master’s degree from Medill, Foote’s career has spanned all corners of the world of journalism and public relations. Foote’s expertise ranges from his time as a journalist with The Miami Herald and Washington Post to teaching at University of North Texas to serving as principal for the integrated communications, marketing and public relations firm Foote Communications LLC. He has also contributed to promoting inclusivity within publications and spearheaded digital  strategy and new media efforts.  Foote currently serves as the president of the National Black Public Relations Society.

Juliana Tafur’s newly released TEDx talk, “Listening Courageously Can Bridge What Divides Us”
How can we transform judgment to understanding? In a talk perfectly suited for our polarized times, Juliana Tafur invites us to listen courageously to create understanding across differences. As the director of “List(e)n”, an award-winning documentary inviting Americans in disagreement to connect on a human level, she encourages us to connect with people’s stories, to understand their lived experiences. She poignantly lays out some of the lessons from her filmmaking journey with the documentary that transformed her life – and her perceptions, from judgement to understanding.
She weaves in her identity as a Colombian-American woman, emboldening us to combat the “us vs. them” mentality that doesn’t serve us, but hurts us. As the creator of a movement to promote empathy and heart-centered dialogue, she lays out the conditions necessary for courageous listening. A powerful talk, inspiring us to go past the surface, to see people – not as issues or labels – but as multidimensional beings.
Watch and share here: https://www.ted.com/talks/juliana_tafur_listening_courageously_can_bridge_what_divides_us_feb_2022

Pradnya Joshi (BSJ93 and MSJ93) has joined The Washington Post in the newly created role of National Weekend Editor. She focuses on breaking news stories and ensuring that the weekend report is vital and engaging. She previously worked for nearly five years at Politico and worked for The New York Times for 11 years in various editing roles.

Jenna Bourne won the 2021 Suncoast Regional Emmy Award for Reporter – Talent – Investigative. Jenna is an investigative reporter at 10 Tampa Bay, a TEGNA station and CBS-affiliate. She hosts “What’s Brewing?” — an investigative YouTube series geared toward a Gen-Z audience.

Benjamin Oreskes was named print journalist of the year by the Los Angeles Press Club for his on-the-ground reporting of homelessness issues during the coronavirus pandemic. The competition’s judges lauded Oreskes for his “keen eyes for detail, excellent research and writing, and an empathy for the homeless and those who help, including firefighters, EMTs and a judge.”
Ben is a general assignment reporter in the California section. Previously, he wrote the Essential California newsletter. Before coming to The Times in February 2017, Oreskes covered foreign policy at Politico in Washington, D.C.

I’m working on my first feature documentary and we’re running a fundraising campaign right now for post-production: sound/color engineering, archival film licensing, festival applications, and more.

What We Carry tells the intimate story of one family while humanizing one of the most divisive issues of our time: immigration. After escaping violence in Honduras and joining the migrant caravan, a young couple and their son are taken in by a synagogue in Seattle, Washington, and their story becomes linked to the Jewish people’s long legacy of defending the right to refuge.

The film centers the stories of Mirna, Magdiel, and Joshua as they seek asylum. But we uplift not just their identities and day-to-day experiences of being immigrants, but also the daily joys and tribulations – and even the mundane moments – of parenthood, marriage, and setting up life in a new place – things that many of us, immigrants or not, experience ourselves.

Please check out the campaign at whatwecarrydoc.com. Thanks very much!

Lori Marshall (BSJ 1986 and MSJ 1988) published “One-Way Ticket to L.A.” written with her mother, Barbara Marshall. The memoir chronicles Barbara’s journey from Ohio to Hollywood where she was married to the writer-producer-director Garry Marshall for 53 years. Garry also graduated from Medill in 1956. The book was published by Sarah Street Press in early 2021.

Stephanie Chang, BSJ ’89, has been named Vice President of Content and Global Editor of Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group Custom Content, also known as The Trust. She directs the development of content for clients of WSJ | BG. She lives in Manhattan with husband Sean Nolan, BSJ ’89, and their two children.

Tony Bartelme was awarded Columbia Journalism School’s prestigious 2021 John Chancellor Award. Judges cited a career of ground-breaking environmental and investigative stories that stretched the limits of what local newspapers offer their readers. He is senior project reporter for The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina.