As media professionals, we stand at an exciting crossroads. News consumption through traditional formats such as TV and print may be down, but the appetite for news is stronger than ever as Americans devour nonstop information through digital, mobile and podcasts. And while the U.S. president asserts that we are “fake,” “dirty” and have a “hate agenda,” journalism schools are logging record enrollment. Has this current climate ushered in a new golden age of investigative journalism and narratives that matter? There’s so much to cover we had to split it into two sessions! Come hear from leaders in print and wires who will examine today’s trends and reveal where the industry is headed.
Moderator: Sharif Durhams
Panelists: Koa Beck, Greg Burton, Arlyn Gajilan, Shana Naomi Krochmal, Randy Lovely, Karen Pensiero, Carolyn Ryan
Awards presented: Excellence in Photojournalism, Excellence in HIV/AIDS Coverage, Excellence in Online Journalism, Excellence in Multimedia
SHARIF DURHAMS is a senior editor for news and alerting for CNN Digital, where he oversees daily planning decisions for CNN’s desktop homepage and mobile alerts. Durhams was previously a homepage editor at The Washington Post where he helped structure coverage of the 2016 Olympics and election and directed homepage breaking news planning after the shooting of four police officers in Dallas and the announcement of Fidel Castro’s death. His team helped The Washington Post surpass The New York Times in digital traffic for the first time. The Post won the Online News Association’s General Excellence in Online Journalism award in 2015.
KOA BECK is the editor-in-chief of Jezebel and former co-host of the #MeToo Memos on WNYC’s The Takeaway. Her literary criticism and reporting on gender, LGBTQ rights, culture, and race have appeared in TheAtlantic.com, The New York Observer, TheGuardian.com, Esquire.com, Vogue.com, MarieClaire.com, among others. Her short stories have been published in Slice, Kalyani Magazine, and Apogee Journal. Koa has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and serves on the board of directors of Nat.Brut, an art and literary magazine. She is the former executive editor of Vogue.com and the former senior features editor at MarieClaire.com.
GREG BURTON, executive editor of the Desert Sun in Palm Springs and a regional editor for the USA TODAY Network, recently was named executive editor of The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, a 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom and western flagship for the network.
ARLYN GAJILAN is the deputy managing editor for operations at Reuters. Previously, Gajilan was deputy editor for professional news in New York where she helped steer the legal news team and oversee the delivery of Reuters content to Westlaw and the former Intellectual Property & Science division. She’s been a senior editor at Newsweek, Forbes.com, Conde Nast Portfolio, Time and Fortune.
SHANA NAOMI KROCHMAL is a writer, producer and shameless enthusiast who is the digital director for Entertainment Weekly. She was previously the editor-in-chief for Entertainment Tonight online and is a longtime contributing editor and former staffer at OUT magazine. She has also worked at Al Jazeera America, Current TV, and POZ magazine. Her commentary has been featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “The Young Turks” and many other entertainment and news outlets. As a press secretary and communications strategist, she worked at and advised advocacy and community organizations including GLAAD and San Francisco’s STOP AIDS Project. She and her wife and their dog live in Los Angeles.
RANDY LOVELY was named Vice President/Community News in March, 2016. In his role, Randy is responsible for guiding the USA TODAY Network’s local newsrooms. He works with leaders of the Network’s 109 local teams to develop successful content strategies to grow their local audience reach while also connecting their work to the larger nationwide audience as part of the Network. From February 2011, Randy was Senior Vice President, News and Audience Development at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix. He was responsible for the strategic content and audience development for all Republic Media properties, including The Arizona Republic, KPNX and azcentral.com. Prior to this position, Randy was Vice President/News at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com since January 2008. He came to The Arizona Republic in 2002 as managing editor and was promoted to executive editor in 2005.
KAREN MILLER PENSIERO is managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. In this role, she is responsible for all newsroom operations, training, budgets and people and for ensuring the Journal has a world-class, talent-driven and diverse newsroom. She was appointed to this position in September 2017. Ms. Pensiero is a more than 30-year veteran of the Journal and parent company Dow Jones and has held numerous roles in her career, most recently as Editor for Newsroom Standards for four years where she served as intendant of the Journal’s elevated standards of reporting and editing. Prior to that, she held a variety of positions, including director of corporate communications for Dow Jones. Ms. Pensiero is a lecturer and panelist on journalism ethics and standards, serves as a judge for the Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, is an advisory board member of Press Forward, and a board member of the Missourian Publishing Association and the Dow Jones News Fund. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
CAROLYN RYAN is the assistant managing editor at The New York Times. She oversees the recruiting of journalists to The Times. Before she was named senior editor for politics in September 2015, Ryan oversaw coverage of Washington as politics editor and Washington bureau chief. Ryan has also served as the newspaper’s Metro editor and helped run its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the fall of Eliot Spitzer, then the governor of New York.