2021 Christopher J. Georges Conference on College Journalism

Abby Phillip is CNN’s senior political correspondent and anchor of “Inside Politics Sunday.” She joined the network in 2017 to cover the Trump administration and served as White House correspondent through 2019. In January 2020, she moderated CNN’s Democratic presidential debate in Iowa. She also anchored special coverage of “Election Night in America” in November 2020, which lasted several days until CNN projected Joe Biden as the winner, the first news outlet to do so. In January 2021, she anchored the “CNN Special Report: Kamala Harris: Making History,” about the vice president’s barrier-breaking career and the childhood experiences that helped shape her.

Phillip joined CNN from The Washington Post, where she most recently served as a national political reporter covering the White House. She wrote on a wide range of subjects related to the Trump White House, including efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and the president’s overseas trip to Poland and Germany for his first G-20 meeting. As a campaign reporter during the 2016 election, Phillip covered Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Phillip was also a general assignment reporter for the Post, where she covered domestic and international news, including the Charleston, South Carolina, and San Bernardino massacres. Before joining the Post, Phillip was a digital reporter for politics at ABC News. She also covered the Obama White House for Politico, as well as campaign finance and lobbying.

Phillip is working on her first book, “The Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson, Black Political Power, and the Year that Changed America,” which will be released in 2022 and serve as the first major contemporary book on the life and political legacy of Jackson. It focuses on his groundbreaking run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988.

Phillip was raised in Bowie, Maryland, and is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in government. As a student, she was an executive editor for news at The Harvard Crimson.
@abbydphillip

Bukola Adebayo is a senior producer for CNN Digital in Lagos, Nigeria, where she reports on breaking news, writes features and produces enterprise stories about Africa for CNN International. She has covered a wide range of topics including gender inequality, social injustice and political uprisings. Her investigation of a 2018 sex-for-grades scandal at a Nigerian university contributed to the prosecution and conviction of a lecturer for sexual misconduct, a rarity in her country. She previously reported for The Punch, Nigeria’s most widely read newspaper, where she ran the health desk and wrote investigative stories about medical and environmental issues. She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@BUKAdebayo

Yasmin Amer is a Boston-based journalist who most recently worked as a senior podcast reporter and producer for WBUR’s iLab. She joined WBUR in 2016 as a field producer for “Morning Edition.” Before that, she spent six years at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta where she worked as a writer, producer and news editor. As a fluent Arabic speaker, she helped cover several breaking stories out of the Middle East, including the Arab Spring protests and the Syrian civil war. She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@yasminamer

John Archibald is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. His columns appear in The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times, the Mobile Press-Register, AL.com and its social brand, Reckon. He won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2018. His new book is “Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution.” He is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@JohnArchibald

Joseph Bernstein is a senior technology reporter for BuzzFeed News in New York, where he writes feature stories about the effects of social platforms on American society. He arrived at BuzzFeed in 2013 to cover the gaming industry. Since 2015, he has been covering the intersection of technology, media, ideology and politics, with a focus on right-wing media and online radicalization. He previously worked as editor at Kill Screen Magazine and a fact checker and reporter for Popular Science. He is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@Bernstein

Marc-Olivier Bherer is a staff editor and reporter for the Ideas-Debates section of the French daily Le Monde. Working primarily for the op-ed pages, he commissions and edits articles on diverse topics, both national and international. He also writes about intellectual life, often in America, as well as populism and social issues. He regularly contributes to the paper’s weekly literary supplement, Le Monde des Livres. He has translated Jonathan Israel’s “Revolutionary Ideas” and his translation of Omer Bartov’s “Anatomy of a Genocide” will be published in 2021. He started his career at Courrier International, and his work has been published by Harper’s and L’Express, among others. He is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@MOB238

Taylor Blatchford is a news producer at The Seattle Times, where she develops audience engagement strategies, connects with readers through social media and leads digital strategy for the newsroom’s investigative team. She also writes a weekly newsletter called The Lead to provide resources and connections for student journalists. A graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, Blatchford previously reported on the future of news with a focus on student media at The Poynter Institute. At the Columbia Missourian, she led a team focused on bringing community engagement into the reporting process and reported on health and higher education. She also wrote and edited at Investigative Reporters and Editors and at Politico Europe, she developed engagement strategies to reach an international audience.
@blatchfordtr

Austin Bogues covers Asbury Park and Neptune Township as well as race relations for the Asbury Park Press, part of the USA Today Network in New Jersey. He previously worked for the Daily Press Media Group in his hometown of Newport News, Va., covering a variety of beats including crime, transportation and education. He has won awards for his reporting on local government, environmental matters and federal drug policy. He is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@AustinBogues

Samantha Broun is a Massachusetts-based radio journalist who serves as managing editor for Atlantic Public Media’s Transom.org, which channels new work, voices and ideas into public media. She works with APM on all its projects, including Transom workshops for radio/audio producers. Broun’s reporting focuses on the personal and political impact of violent crime. Her radio documentary, “A Life Sentence: Victims, Offenders, Justice And My Mother” was honored with a 2016 Third Coast International Audio Festival Silver Award and a 2017 Dart Award, and was a finalist for a Peabody Award. Her two-part radio documentary, “Living With Murder” was one of eight “Frontline” features honored with a 2019 Gold Baton from the Alfred duPont-Columbia Awards. She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@BrounSamantha

Emily Corwin is an investigative reporter and editor for Vermont Public Radio. Previously, she reported on criminal justice for New Hampshire Public Radio, where she reported and hosted “Supervision,” a short-run podcast chronicling one man’s life on parole. Her reporting has won a Gracie Award and numerous regional Edward R. Murrow awards, including one for investigative reporting in 2019. Her collaborative investigation into lax oversight and poor care at Vermont long-term care facilities was a finalist for a 2019 IRE Award. Her podcast “Supervision” was also a finalist for a 2020 Livingston Award.She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@emilycorwin

Scott Dance writes about the environment for The Baltimore Sun, focusing on the Chesapeake Bay. “Power struggle,” his series detailing how a Maryland subsidy program that promotes renewable energy also subsidizes paper mills and trash incinerators, won second place for explanatory reporting from the Society of Environmental Journalists in 2018. He was part of the Sun team named a Pulitzer finalist for coverage of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray and the Baltimore uprising that followed. Before joining the Sun in 2012, he was a business reporter for the Baltimore Business Journal. He is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@ssdance

Robert Frederick is the digital managing editor of American Scientist, where he oversees the magazine’s digital presence and reports on all branches of science. Previously, he was podcaster, video producer, and web editor for Science magazine and a science journalist for St. Louis Public Radio, contributing to the NPR network. Throughout his journalism career, he has freelanced for a wide variety of outlets in print, radio, television and online and is a contributor to “The Science Writers’ Handbook.” He is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@R_E_Frederick

Sarah L. Kaufman is the chief dance critic for The Washington Post and author of “The Art of Grace: On Moving Well Through Life.” She covers the aesthetics and meaning of the arts, entertainment, sports and behavior. She has exposed violence against women in dance companies, broke the story about the lack of copyright protection for Martha Graham’s choreography and her multimedia projects have explored neuroscience and art. She came to the Post after writing and translating in Munich and working at The Buffalo News. Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism and the Missouri Lifestyle Arts & Entertainment Award for Reporting. She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@SarahLKaufman

Vidya Krishnan is an investigative journalist based in India. She has reported on the Rohingya genocide, the global tuberculosis pandemic and the right-to-health movements in the developing world. Her first book, “Phantom Plague: The Untold Story of How Tuberculosis Shaped our History,” will be published in 2021. She received an International Reporting Fellowship in 2015 to report on changing patent laws in South Africa and their impact on drug prices in African nations. She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@VidyaKrishnan

Ann Marie Lipinski is curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, home to an international fellowship program and publications about journalism, including Nieman Lab, Nieman Reports and Nieman Storyboard. Lipinski previously served as senior lecturer and vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago. Prior to that, she was the editor-in-chief and senior vice president of the Chicago Tribune, where she also served as managing editor, metropolitan editor and investigations editor. At the Tribune, Lipinski was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism for stories she wrote with two other reporters on government corruption in Chicago. While editor of the paper, she oversaw work that won Pulitzers in international reporting, feature writing, editorial writing, investigative reporting and explanatory journalism. A 1990 Nieman Fellow, Lipinski is a trustee of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a past co-chair of the Pulitzer Prize board and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
@AMLwhere

Willoughby Mariano is an investigative reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she focuses on housing and criminal justice issues. She previously worked for PolitiFact Georgia, the AJC team that fact checked the claims of elected officials, and at the Orlando Sentinel, where she covered crime and breaking news. Past honors include a National Headliner Award in investigative journalism and the Atlanta Press Club’s award for civil and human rights reporting. Mariano is president of the Asian American Journalists Association’s Atlanta chapter and chaired the national organization’s 2019 convention. She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@wmariano

Amber Payne, executive producer at BET Digital, oversees daily editorial and longform video content for BET.com. Previously, she served as executive producer of Teen Vogue and them., a vertical focused on LGBTQ+ stories. Payne also founded NBCNews.com’s NBCBLK, another vertical created to elevate the conversation around Black identity, and worked on breaking news and features as an award-winning producer for “NBC Nightly News.” She has covered stories throughout the U.S., Ecuador and parts of West and South Africa, including Nelson Mandela’s funeral, the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the Vancouver Olympics and Hurricane Katrina recovery. Payne’s new feature-length documentary is “Harlem Rising: A Community Changing the Odds.” She is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@amberwaves

Alissa J. Rubin is the Baghdad bureau chief for The New York Times and previously served as bureau chief in Paris and Kabul. Before joining the Times in 2007, she covered the Balkans as the Vienna bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times while simultaneously working as Baghdad co-bureau chief. She spent 10 years reporting in Washington before going overseas. Prior to that, Rubin was a reporter in Kansas for the Knight-Ridder newspaper then known as The Wichita Eagle-Beacon. She won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting and the 2015 John Chancellor Award for journalistic achievement, among other awards.
@Alissanyt

Maxwell Strachan is a senior features editor at Vice where he covers inequality, corporate malfeasance and other topics. Prior to joining Vice, he worked at HuffPost for nine years, most recently as a senior reporter covering the 2020 Democratic primary. Before that, he served as a senior reporter writing feature stories about media and culture and as a senior editor on the business, technology, sports and entertainment desks. He is a 2021 Nieman Fellow.
@maxwellstrachan

Amanda Su is a junior at Harvard College studying history and literature. She currently serves as president of The Harvard Crimson’s 148th Guard. Previously, as a news reporter, she covered issues of race and diversity on campus, as well as the Harvard College administration. She also served as a multimedia executive, overseeing photo and video coverage, producing a podcast, and training new multimedia journalists.
@amandaysu

Hanaa’ Tameez is a staff writer for the Nieman Journalism Lab, where she covers innovation in the news media industry. She previously worked at WhereBy.Us as a newsletter editor and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as its diversity reporter. She had internships at The Wall Street Journal and the Council on Foreign Relations, among others, and she is a graduate of Stony Brook University and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
@HanaaTameez