Andra Cernavskis
Andra Cernavskis likes to consider herself a Californian-Canadian hybrid, being from Toronto, Canada but having spent most of her life in the Bay Area. After graduating from the J-School in 2015, she worked at Discovery Digital Networks, a news platform start-up called Happs News, and then at Twitter, where she worked on the misinformation team before Elon Musk took over and fired her entire department. Cernavskis then pivoted toward a legal career, attending UC Law for a year before transferring to UC Berkeley Law, where she graduates next month. That will make her a “Double Bear,” with two graduate degrees from UC Berkeley. After taking the California bar exam this summer, she’ll be pursuing a career at the intersection of journalism and law, starting as a fellow at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C.
She speaks with Greta Mart (’15) about having an open mind when it comes to working in journalism, her decision to pivot to law, and why someday she could be representing working journalists in fighting for their First Amendment rights.
What memories do you hold from your time studying at the J-School?
Some of my core memories happened in the very first semester, when I was assigned to Mission Local [the former J-School-supported hyperlocal news site; Andra’s was the last class to work at ML] with a group of people — many of whom are still my best friends. We were kind of off in the Mission, away from the J-School for the whole semester, we had this small room that founder Lydia Chavez rented at 22nd and Mission. Because we were in such close quarters and away from the rest of the school, it really helped that group of a dozen or so of us to form deep bonds. There was such camaraderie and we laughed about so many things.
Is there a particular off-campus spot that you remember fondly from your time in Berkeley?
The Missouri Lounge, or as we affectionately call it, MoLo, was definitely the spot. When I was at the J-School, I think it was either during orientation or the first full week of classes, it was tradition that the 2nd years would take the new 1st years to MoLo and introduce them to it. It had a great dance floor, it was a dive bar – journalists love a dive bar –- they had good drink specials and a great outdoor patio. But because MoLo closed for 4½ years starting with the pandemic, it lost a whole generation of J-School students. I encourage all current and future journalism students to go back; it’s reopened and so fun, though not as dive-y. Other than MoLo, when we were in the Mission, we went to Doc’s Clock and Mission Lounge. And we often went to La Val’s Pizza on Euclid for pitchers.
What was it like working at Twitter, and how did that contribute to your decision to apply to law school?
Working at Twitter was a really fascinating experience, given that I joined in May of 2020 and I was there through the rollout of the COVID vaccines, the 2020 election, the war in Ukraine, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, January 6th – many major events where there was a lot of misinformation happening that we had to deal with. So I was involved in some really high-profile moments at the company. But I’d always considered law school. And even when I was at Twitter, I often was conflicted. I really liked the work I was doing, but it raised a lot of questions: this private company is making hugely impactful decisions around what content to flag as misinformation or what content to take down. I mean, while I was there, we de-platformed a sitting U.S. president — it’s a very major decision to make. And there’s minimal regulation around social media and a lot of really powerful laws that currently protect it, Section 230 being one of them. The First Amendment, for better or for worse, being another. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides legal immunity to online platforms for user-created content, so internet companies, aka social media companies, can’t be held liable for third-party content posted to their site.
What advice do you have for someone just starting their journalism career?
Keep an open mind. I think I entered journalism school with a very specific idea about what I thought journalism was or what I would do, which was being a print investigative reporter. It’s really meaningful, important work. I wish there were more jobs for people to do that kind of work because it’s so important. But the reality of the situation is, those jobs are somewhat few and far in between. But you can still do really impactful work in different areas of journalism and keep an open mind about what that looks like. Understand that the first job you have in journalism won’t be your last. And that there are many twists and turns in the road, so be open to those twists and turns and not so set on any particular idea of what journalism is or how you can have impact.
What’s next for you?
I’m pivoting to law, but I will still be in the journalism space. At least for the first year, I’ll be working [a fellowship] at a nonprofit called the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. I will be working on cases, whether that’s public records cases or First Amendment cases, that directly impact journalists. After that, I hope to continue on; there are some firms that do some really great media law work. Journalism and law is an interesting intersection to be involved in; media law is closely related to entertainment law, but they are considered two different things. Media law represents journalists and publications. It turns out it’s a small group of people who do it, and they all kind of know each other, which is, I think both good and also a little bit intimidating at times. But once you start getting into the network, you can make great connections and do really interesting work. It’s not something that a lot of people, particularly young lawyers, tend to pursue. But now more than ever, we need people doing that kind of work. It’s harder and harder for journalists to do their jobs and do them effectively, so now is the time they need good legal representation. And also, as someone who was a journalist before and is now heading into my legal career, it’s something I can feel good every day waking up and doing. That’s always been important to me in my career, no matter what I’m doing, I have to feel like I’m contributing positively to the world.
