Gina Smith is the investigations and projects editor for McClatchy’s South Carolina newspapers, supervising a team of reporters in three newsrooms for statewide and regional audiences. She is the founder and director of SC Investigates, which provides free tools to South Carolina newsroom professionals. A veteran of newspapers in the Deep South, she previously worked as a reporter for The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C. The work of her McClatchy team has been recognized by IRE and the Society for News Design, among others, and has changed laws, exposed government corruption, and given voice to those in marginalized communities.
Benjamin Bidder is an economics and business reporter for the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel who covers Russia and Ukraine as well as German and global economic affairs. He previously served as Moscow correspondent for Spiegel Online and reported on the Maidan Revolution and the annexation of Crimea. Bidder is particularly interested in complex socioeconomic developments such as the consequences of German reunification and the Brexit vote. In 2023, he won the German Journalism Prize for uncovering shipments of war-related microelectronics from Germany to Russia. He is the author of the book “Understanding the New Russia,” about Russia’s first post-Soviet generation.
Study Proposal Summaries
Leslie Hook, Beijing correspondent for the Financial Times, will study the intersection of social media and environmental protests in China, with a particular focus on the growing impact of social media on political decisions and policymaking.
Souad Mekhennet (Germany/Morocco), a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and ZDF (German TV), will study how the uprisings in Arab countries in 2011 have influenced the long-term strategies of terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and how Sharia (Islamic law) deals with human rights, women, and democracy.
