News

by Barbara Wiedemann
To be a good journalist, Washington Post Executive Editor Martin “Marty” Baron told a UNC Hussman audience yesterday, you need both a soul and a spine. A soul to undertake and feel a deep commitment to the pursuit of truth. And a spine to withstand the most vicious attacks. Over 300 students, alumni and friends of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media attended the 2020 Nelson Benton Lecture in webinar format at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. 

Martin "Marty" Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, will give the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media’s Nelson Benton Lecture via Zoom webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, at 6:30 p.m. UNC Hussman students Sophia Fanning, Mary Slade McKee, John Ratkowiak and Ruth Samuel will join Baron, along with Dean Susan King, for discussion and Q&A.

On September 23, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media announced a new executive-in-residence program established to honor alumnus Frank Daniels Jr. ‘53, the legendary president and publisher of The News & Observer based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

by Barbara Wiedemann
A social scientist whose research makes it into the pages of the STEM-focused Science magazine is a notable event. Founded in 1880 with seed money provided by Thomas Edison, today The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the nonprofit publisher of the Science family of journals, reaches 16 million views each month on its websites. To have a second paper featured in Science a week later, as UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Associate Professor Deen Freelon did earlier this month, made a splash in social science circles.

The Fall 2020 semester poses unique challenges to students, but we are here for you. The members of the UNC Hussman faculty and staff are committed to providing the best possible remote education and remaining empathetic to students’ needs during this time. Below, we’ve compiled answers to some of your most pressing questions about this semester, including updates for the move to remote-only instruction.

UNC Hussman Roy H. Park Fellow Amari Pollard ’21 (M.A.) talked with fellow Park scholar Giulia Heyward ’21 (M.A.) about a year filled with firsts, including Heyward’s first two bylines in The New York Times.

Dear UNC Hussman Students,
I hope that the pause in classes helped give you some space and time and to sort out the rapid changes of this Fall 2020 semester. 
We know how tough these last two weeks have been for you.

Dear UNC Hussman Students,
Late this afternoon, the Chancellor and Provost engaged with the deans as we discussed the COVID-19 positivity rate rise on campus. I know that the upheaval of this summer and fall semester have already caused stress for all in our community. Many of us will have to rearrange lives once again as we have done throughout this pandemic. But the leadership, faculty and staff of UNC Hussman are here for you as we navigate this change.

by Barbara Wiedemann
UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media graduate Oscar Guerra ’14 (Ph.D.) wrote, produced and directed “Love, Life & the Virus,” the story of a mother in Stamford, Connecticut, struggling to survive COVID and see her newborn baby and her immigrant family again after being put on a ventilator and being put into a coma. The documentary, the first in a two-part Frontline series focusing on two immigrant families struggling with the pandemic, premieres on Tuesday, August 11.