CPB, Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism Announce Public Media Editorial Integrity and Leadership Fellows

March 11, 2019

(WASHINGTON, D.C. and PHOENIX, ARIZONA) March 11, 2019 – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University are proud to announce the 53 fellows selected to participate in the Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative (EILI).

The inaugural class will begin the program in April at ASU, led by Julia Wallace, the Cronkite School’s Frank Russell Chair and the former editor-in-chief at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The intensive curriculum will focus on editorial integrity, utilizing active learning strategies to reinforce public media’s unique firewall, statutory obligation to balance, objectivity, accuracy, fairness and transparency. Participants will receive one-on-one coaching from industry leaders.

“The fellows will have the opportunity to work with an all-star lineup of newsroom leaders, who are facing the challenges of today’s media landscape and working hard to improve civil discourse in their communities,” Wallace said. “Our program is designed to help strengthen American public media journalism by building the expertise of multimedia editors.”

EILI is funded by a $1 million grant from CPB and managed by The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU.

“At a time when many news outlets are shrinking, we seek to train more public media editors to lead public media’s growing newsrooms while upholding the highest editorial standards,” said Kathy Merritt, CPB Senior Vice President, Journalism and Radio. “Skilled, effective editors are vital to producing content that tackles issues of importance to our communities and informs our country’s civil discourse.”

The EILI Fellows come from 34 states and Washington, D.C.  They work in radio and television stations of all sizes and serve rural and urban communities. They include current editors of journalism collaborations, producers of local and national programs, station newsroom leaders, investigative journalists, and up-and-coming reporters who show great potential for future impact in public media.

Another call for applications will take place later this year and the final round of fellows will be announced in the fall. By 2020, a total of 100 public media leaders will have participated in this professional development program.

CPB Public Media Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative participants selected to date:

  • Erika Aguilar, Housing Reporter, KQED, San Francisco, California
  • Andrew Becker, News Director, KUER, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Zuri Berry, Senior Managing Editor, WAMU, Washington, D.C.
  • Jonathan Blakley, Executive Director, Radio Programming, KQED, San Francisco, California
  • Sean Bowditch, Executive Editor, WNYC, New York, New York
  • Ariana Brocious, Producer, Arizona Public Media, Tucson
  • Tracy Brown, Managing Editor, Chicago Public Media
  • Kyla Calvert Mason, Assistant News Director, Wisconsin Public Radio
  • Katie Colaneri, Assistant News Director, WHYY, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Scott Cameron, Executive Editor, Illinois Newsroom, Illinois Public Media
  • Jeff Cohen, News Director, Connecticut Public Radio
  • Aimee Crouch, Senior Producer, News and Public Affairs, South Carolina Educational Television
  • Florangela Davila, Managing Editor, Crosscut, Cascade Public Media, Washington
  • Gigi Douban, News Director, WBHM, Birmingham, Alabama
  • Vincent Duffy, News Director, Michigan Radio
  • Holly Edgell, Editor, Sharing America, St. Louis Public Media, Missouri   
  • Linnea Edmeier, Managing Editor for News and Information, Capital Public Radio, Sacramento, California
  • Rachel Estabrook, News Director, Colorado Public Radio
  • Annie Feidt, Managing Editor, Alaska’s Energy Desk, Alaska Public Media
  • Zosette Guir, Managing Producer, Detroit Public Television
  • Gideon Hayes Butler, Senior Producer, NJTV, New Jersey
  • Michael Hibblen, News Director, KUAR, Little Rock, Arkansas
  • Adriene Hill, Senior Editor, California Dream, KPCC Southern California Public Radio
  • Amy Jeffries, Editor, Kansas News Service, KCUR, Kansas City, Missouri
  • Dennis Kellogg, News Director, NET Nebraska
  • Jennifer Lang, Product and Audience Development Manager, WFAE, Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Michael Leland, News Director, Iowa Public Radio
  • Rachel Osier Lindley, Statewide Coordinating Editor, Texas Station Collaborative, KERA, Dallas
  • Laura McCallum, Managing Editor for Daily News, Minnesota Public Radio
  • Maureen McMurray, Director of Content and Audience Development, New Hampshire Public Radio
  • Scottie Lee Meyers, Multimedia Producer, Milwaukee PBS
  • Sarah Neal-Estes, News Director, WFYI, Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Priska Neely, Senior Early Childhood Reporter, KPCC Southern California Public Radio
  • Ashley Norwood, Senior Producer, Mississippi Public Broadcasting
  • Ammad Omar, Supervising Editor, NPR News
  • Erin O'Toole, Assistant News Director, KUNC, Greeley, Colorado
  • Jennifer Pemberton, Managing Editor, Alaska’s Energy Desk, KTOO, Juneau, Alaska
  • Erica Peterson, Director of News and Programming, Louisville Public Media
  • Emily Reddy, News Director, WPSU-FM, State College, Pennsylvania
  • Jessica Rosgaard. Producer, WWNO, New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Avery Schneider, Assistant News Director, WBFO, Buffalo, New York
  • Arnie Seipel, Deputy Political Editor, National Public Radio
  • Sara Shahriari, Managing Editor, Georgia Public Broadcasting
  • Mary Shedden, News Director, WUSF, Tampa, Florida
  • Mark Simpson, News Director, Maine Public
  • Emily Siner, News Director, WPLN, Nashville, Tennessee
  • David Sommerstein, Assistant News Director, North Country Public Radio, Canton, New York
  • Brendan Sweeney, Director of New Content & Innovation, KUOW, Seattle, Washington
  • Eric Whitney, News Director, Montana Public Radio
  • Jesse Wright, News Director, West Virginia Public Broadcasting
  • Annie Wu, News Director, ideastream, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Laura Yuen, Editor for New Audiences, Minnesota Public Radio
  • Jeff Young, Managing Editor, Ohio Valley ReSource, Louisville Public Media,
    Kentuck​y

Contacts:
Kyle Wu, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University, 650-304-7016 kyle.wu@asu.edu.
Letitia King, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 202-879-9658, press@cpb.org

About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for other updates.

About the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
The Cronkite School at Arizona State University is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier professional journalism programs. The school’s 2,000 students regularly lead the country in national journalism competitions. They are guided by faculty comprised of award-winning professional journalists and world-class media scholars. Cronkite’s full-immersion professional programs give students opportunities to practice what they’ve learned in real-world settings under the guidance of professionals.

Categories: CPB Funding, Journalism