A message from Dean Michael D. Bolden
Federal agents late this week arrested journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for doing their jobs, which was reporting on the outrageous actions being perpetrated by ICE in Minneapolis and the justifiable public protests.
Journalism is not a crime, but government actions like this are intended to impede the free press from doing its work. It is intended to chill freedom of the press and to discourage all of us, journalists and residents alike, from exercising the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. The charges are even more remarkable because they had been rejected last week by a federal magistrate and a federal appeals court. That makes the intent now even more clear.
Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech.” We cannot, and will not, allow the press to be subdued in this moment.
The work we do here at UC Berkeley Journalism is part of the bedrock of American democracy. As long as we do this work, there is hope — hope that the voices of the overlooked will be heard, hope that those who abuse power will be held to account, hope that humanity will have better tomorrows.
Journalists like Lemon and Fort are in the vanguard, but so are you — so are all of us — and we will continue to find strength, inspiration and resolve by standing up for democratic principles and standing up for freedom of the press. In the end, we will prevail.
Sincerely,
Michael D. Bolden
Dean and Professor
UC Berkeley Journalism
News Roundup
Two news bills signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom last month to reform policing resulted from investigations by UC Berkeley Journalism alums Brian Howey (‘22), Katey Rusch (‘20) and Casey Smith (‘20). Their award-winning work was developed at UC Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program.
“These two projects — and the legislation they’ve provoked — are a reminder that powerful investigative reporting doesn’t just illuminate abuses of power but it often spurs reforms aimed at ending those abuses,” said Professor David Barstow, chair of the Investigative Reporting Program. “They are also yet another demonstration of the incredible investigative storytelling our Berkeley Journalism students are consistently producing.”
Stories by Howey, Rusch and Smith were published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Los Angeles Times.
Student News
Eli Benton Cohen (’27) had an A1 story in the San Francisco Chronicle about a 20-year-old immigrant from Honduras who paid taxes and a mortgage in Oakland before being wrongfully caught up in a DEA-led raid and whisked to a detention center in another state for two months. The story highlights the growing use of a judicial order that was once unusual in immigration cases called a writ of habeas corpus that’s now being used to fight back against unlawful detentions. Additional reporting by Georgie Pease (’27).
Congratulations to Ava Hu (’26) and Daily Californian News Editor Aarya Mukherjee, pictured here with their SPJ NORCAL Breaking News Award for coverage of ICE’s reversal restoring legal status to 12 UC Berkeley students. Their story published more than 16 hours before any other publication in the country.
First-year students in J282 showcased their excellent stories for a packed audience in North Gate Hall in December. Congrats Laurata Pechuqui, Dune Strickland, Dan Chamberlain, Shreya Mishra, Yumo Lu, Joshua Olawuyi, Michael Han, Charlie Wang and instructors Jason Spingarn-Koff and Chris O’Dea. Bravo. Photo: Marlena Telvick
Sophia Cutino (’26) and Seven Wu (’26) took first place and honorable mention respectively in the campuswide Dorothea Lange photography competition. The fellowship, established in the late 1980s at UC Berkeley in memory of one of the 20th century’s most gifted documentary photographers, celebrates the use of photography by students or faculty members in scholarly work of any discipline. “This year’s competitors submitted very thought-provoking proposals with strong photographic samples, even by the highest industry standards,” Professor Ken Light said.
Amy Osborne’s (’26) photos ran on the front page of The New York Times and in a big spread inside for a story about how the artificial intelligence gold rush has pushed San Francisco’s residential rents up by the most in the nation as AI companies lease apartments and offer rent stipends to employees.
From left to right: Macie Parker, Steffi Puerto, Akua Parker, Emily Tenorio, Fernando Haro and Angelo Claure. Photo: Marlena Telvick
Six first-generation college students, all from California, have been named UC Berkeley Journalism Dean’s Fellows, recipients of prestigious full-ride fellowships meant to give students the freedom to pursue careers in journalism by dramatically reducing the debt burden they carry into their professional lives.
This fifth cohort of Dean’s Fellows, all part of the Class of 2027, include Angelo Claure, Fernando Haro, Akua Parker, Macie Parker, Steffi Puerto and Emily Tenorio Molina. The program is overseen and taught this year by environmental investigative reporter and Continuing Lecturer Mark Schapiro.
“The Stakes”
Over the last year, more than 30 students have published stories for “The Stakes,” a school-wide special project dedicated to covering the local effects of Trump administration policies on California. Initially launched as a rapid response to the stream of executive orders and federal actions, the project involves UC Berkeley faculty, students, staff and fellows pivoting and reporting on the local implications of federal policies across areas of health care, the environment, education, scientific research and other topics.
Since launching in February, “The Stakes” project has produced 36 stories under the editorial guidance of Local News Editor Christine Schiavo. In writing about the effects new federal policies are having on California communities, our students have reported on lost research grants, cuts to environmental initiatives, threats to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and farm programs; the impact of tariffs on small businesses, of policy shifts on LGBT rights and of censorship on arts organizations.
Hyeyoon Cho (’27) has had a string of important stories published over the last few months for “The Stakes,” an ongoing UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities.
Students have published these stories in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, the Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, East Bay Times, The Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco Business Times, El Tímpano, Richmondside, Berkeleyside and on KQED, KALW, LAist, KPBS and CapRadio, among other news sites. The project is open to anyone at the J-School who is interested in pursuing stories that chronicle this moment in time for Californians.
Read the print and online stories here and watch the student-led explainer series’ vertical videos and video podcasts, produced by Audio Program Director Shereen Marisol Meraji and her students here.
Who’s that interviewing Kristen Stewart, Scott Cooper, Benicio Del Toro and others on the red carpet at the SFFILM Awards in December? Our own Anasooya Thorakkattu (’26) covering the awards for NBC Bay Area.
Students in Professor Ken Light’s J210 class on assignment at the Cal vs. Duke game.
Second-year students Nava Rawls and Richard H. Grant were awarded SF Press Club Emerging Journalist Scholarships. They were publicly honored at the 48th Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards on Dec. 9.
In December, the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States and the international correspondents’ community hosted the Annual Foreign Press Awards Gala and presented the 2025 Scholarship Awards to outstanding international correspondents pursuing master’s degrees in journalism across U.S. universities. Our own Ava Hu (’26), a bilingual reporter specializing in data-driven and international stories, was a winner.
Minahil Arif (’26) and Fuwad Ahamad (‘26) were featured in recent “My J-School” videos produced by James Mawien Manyuol (’27) that give the real deal about J-School life — directly from the mouths of current students.
Faculty News
From top left: Jamil Smith, Allison McCartney, David Cohn, Eduardo García, Elizabeth Weil, Tom Giles, Matthew Winkler, John Battelle (’92) and Corey Ford.
Our Spring 2026 instructors are already hard at work with students at North Gate Hall. From audience engagement to business leadership and design thinking to how emerging technologies like AI are reshaping journalism and media, UC Berkeley Journalism’s spring course lineup reflects an evolving curriculum under new Dean Michael D. Bolden.
“We’ve recruited some terrific new and returning faculty to meet the needs of the industry while best positioning our students for successful careers,” said Associate Dean of Academics Jeremy Sanchez Rue.
Shereen Marisol Meraji. Photo: Marlena Telvick
Congratulations to Shereen Marisol Meraji, director of the audio program, who was just awarded tenure and the title of Associate Professor at UC Berkeley Journalism. Meraji, the founder and former co-host and senior producer of the pre-eminent podcast about race and identity in America, NPR’s “Code Switch,” joined Berkeley Journalism in July of 2022. Since then, she’s turned the audio track into a publishing powerhouse for students. “She brings boundless energy and rigor to this profession, and I am thrilled to work alongside her,” Michael D. Bolden, dean of Berkeley Journalism said.
Professor Jason Spingarn-Koff is executive producer of All the Walls Came Down, a documentary about the L.A. fires shortlisted for the Academy Awards was published by L.A. Times Short Docs in January. The film will screen as part of our Climate Journalism on Screen series at BAMPFA on February 22.
Joan Bieder
Longtime J-School teacher and mentor Joan Bieder — beloved across generations of Berkeley students and colleagues — died on October 26. The Berkeley Journalism community, which included current and former faculty and staff, alumni and friends, celebrated her life on Saturday, December 12. Read tributes and our story.
Current and former Deans and Associate Deans of UC Berkeley Journalism pictured at the memorial event for Joan Bieder. From left to right: Jeremy Sanchez Rue, Rob Gunnison, Ed Wasserman, Bill Drummond, Neil Henry, Michael D. Bolden, Tom Goldstein and Marcia Parker.
Professor Lisa Armstrong interviewed Congresswoman Lateefah Simon at the Piedmont Anti-Racism and Diversity Committee’s 29th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration: “Chaos or Community? Choosing our Future.” The deep and provocative discussion covered Dr. King’s work to upend racial and economic injustice and its relevance today. Photo: J Reichle.
Our J230 spring semester class kicked off with Visiting Professor Matt Winkler, co-founder of Bloomberg News, teaching at Bloomberg in San Francisco.
Seven of Professor Ken Light’s photos from his book “Valley of Shadows and Dreams” are included in the play “Last West: Road Songs for Dorothea Lange,” written by poet Tess Taylor, an innovative, immersive theatre performance at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (which sold out). Light’s photo “Race Wall, Saint Louis, Missouri, 1972,” is included in the exhibition Modern and Contemporary Social Realism at the Harvard Art Museums in Boston.
Professor Ken Light
Professor Ed Wasserman writes that Trump’s ‘quiet, piggy’ jab at a female reporter is much more than a personal insult, in The San Francisco Chronicle.
Alumni News
Alums Pete Nicks (’99) and Alan Sanchez (’15) filming “SIXTEEN”
Pete Nicks (’99) is currently directing “SIXTEEN”, a coming-of-age documentary shot in a combination of super 8 and super 16 film that explores how a diverse group of young people navigate the tragic loss of a friend. Through cinéma vérité and intimate interviews, they reflect on the life and lasting impact of a beloved friend – also the director’s daughter – who passed away at 16. The film invites us to reconsider how those we’ve lost can be rediscovered in unexpected ways – through storytelling, memory, and a reframing of our understanding of life and death.
Where are they now? Alum Maggie Beidelman (’13) has joined the New York Times Video desk as a senior producer based in Los Angeles. Maggie has been honored with dozens of awards from Emmys to Gerald Loeb and National Headliner Awards and was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Jamaican-American storyteller Trenise Ferreira-Sabin’s (’15) debut picture book, Post Office Bay, is available now for preorder and releases on May 26. The book was inspired by a National Geographic article about the Galápagos Islands’ legendary post barrel — a 300-year-old tradition where travelers leave letters for strangers to carry across the world and hand-deliver home.
Awards and Accolades
From top left: Niema Jordan (MJ/MPH ’16), Bo Kovitz (’19), Lauren Capps (’12), Tommy Nguyen (‘05), Singeli Agnew (’07) and Carrie Lozano (’05).
A stunning four out of five of the films nominated in the IDA Awards for Best Episodic Series this year were from the UC Berkeley Journalism community.
Producer Lauren Capps (’12) was nominated for the four-part docuseries “The Sing Sing Chronicles” (NBC News Studios in association with Trilogy Films, MSNBC Films); Producer Niema Jordan (MJ/MPH ’16) for the six-part HBO documentary series “Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977–2015” (Emeritus Professor Jon Else is a series advisor, Rafael Roy (’18) is director of photography for Episode 5 and Katie Bernstein (’21) was lead assistant editor and post-supervisor across the series) and Producers Bo Kovitz (’19) and Tommy Nguyen (’05) for the five-part Netflix documentary series “Turning Point: The Vietnam War.” The “Turning Point” series examines the harrowing consequences of the Vietnam War, from the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the fall of Saigon. Alum and Advisory Board member Carrie Lozano (’05) was nominated for Best Curated Series for Independent Lens.
Directors Bret Sigler (’03) and Singeli Agnew (’07) won for the four-part PBS series “Citizen Nation.” The series is also nominated for Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series in the 41st annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, happening Sunday, February 15 in Los Angeles.
Bret Sigler (’03) receiving the IDA Award for Best Episodic Series. Photo courtesy of Bret Sigler.
Kelsey Oliver and Zane Karram filming their thesis project less than a mile from the U.S.-Mexico border, southwest of Tucson in 2024.
The extraordinary documentary thesis film “Strangers on our Land” by directors Zane Karram (’25) and Kelsey Oliver (’25) has been nominated for the Television Academy’s 45th College Television Awards in the Nonfiction Series. The documentary investigates the killing of Raymond Mattia, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, by U.S. Border Patrol outside his home in May 2023. Watch the trailer on our Instagram channel. The awards will be held in Los Angeles March 26-28.
Niema Jordan poses on the red carpet at the IDA Awards luncheon in Los
Angeles December 6, 2025 where she was nominated for Best Episodic Series for “Eyes on the Prize III.”
Producer Niema Jordan’s (MJ/MPH ’16) “Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977–2015” (HBO Max), has also been nominated for Outstanding Documentary (Television) in the 57th NAACP Image Awards. The awards will be held on February 28 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The ceremony will air live at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on BET.
Warm congratulations to our Berkeley Journalism community on winning Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California (SPJ NorCal).
From top left: Monica Campbell, Ava Hu (‘26), Sasha Khokha (’04), Ayla Burnett (’23), Cecilia Lei (’19), Victoria Mauleon (’01), Susie Neilson (’19), Laura Klivans (’16) and Joaquin Palomino (’15).
From top left: Audy Mae McAfee (’25), Zhe Wu (’23), Lylah Schmedel-Permanna (’27 ), Hussain Khan (‘25), Cynthia Dizikes (’08), Rosa Tuirán (’20), Professor Emeritus Lydia Chavez, Gabriela Quirós (’98) and Yesica Prado (’18).
Critics Choice Documentary Awards nominees Traci A. Curry (’05), Jeffrey Plunkett (’05) with Mariana van Zelle and Niema Jordan (MJ/MPH ’16).
Three veterans of UC Berkeley Journalism’s documentary film program were nominated in the Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The awards honor the year’s finest achievements in documentaries released in theaters, on TV and on major digital platforms.
Academy Award-nominated director Traci A. Curry (’05) tied for Best Historical Documentary for “Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time” (National Geographic). She was also nominated for Best Limited Documentary Series.
Also nominated were Showrunner and Executive Producer Jeffrey Plunkett (’05) who received a nomination for Best Ongoing Documentary Series for “Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller” (National Geographic). Producer Niema Jordan (MJ/MPH ’16) received two nominations, for Best Historical Documentary and Best Limited Documentary Series for the six-part HBO documentary series “Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest 1977–2015.”
Pete Nicks (’99) and Traci A. Curry (’05) are nominated for Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series for “Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time” (National Geographic) and Bret Sigler (’03) and Singeli Agnew (’07) are also nominated for Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series for the four-part PBS series “Citizen Nation” in the 41st annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, happening Sunday, February 15 in Los Angeles.
The stunning skies over the J-School in December captured by Director of Production/J219 instructor Chris O’Dea.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, February 5 | 5:30 pm
Veteran documentary photographer Matthew Naythons is in conversation with Professor Ken Light about his new photography book “Light in Dark Places,” which includes highlights from his illustrious career.
February 7-22
Climate Journalism on Screen
Location: BAMPFA in downtown Berkeley
Details and ticket information here.
A few special screenings and events:
- February 7, 3:30 pm: Following the screening of “Teenage Wasteland” to launch the series, Professor Jason Spingarn-Koff will be onstage in conversation with the filmmakers.
- February 21, noon: A screening of “Three Films on Water and Tradition” includes “The Glacier Wedding” by Amin Muhammad (’25) and Thomas Sawano (’25). Professor Jennifer Redfearn will join the filmmakers on stage in conversation following the screenings.
- February 22, 1 pm: “All the Walls Came Down” by Ondi Timoner. Professor Jason Spingarn-Koff, executive producer of the film, will talk with Timoner and score composer Morgan Doctor following the screening.
The “Climate Journalism on Screen” series was curated by Berkeley Journalism’s Jason Spingarn-Koff, a new board member at BAMPFA.
February 26, 7 pm: Black Culture Appreciation Night at the Cal Women’s Basketball game, which will honor Dean Michael D. Bolden.
March 31, 5:30 pm, UC Berkeley Journalism’s LMC: Herb Caen Lecture on Press Freedom in Peril: Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive officer of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Jason Rezaian, director of Press Freedom Initiatives for The Washington Post in conversation with San Francisco Chronicle Editor in Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz.
The Quarterly News features alumni, faculty, students, media partners and others in Berkeley Journalism’s broad community. If you’d like to follow ongoing developments in real-time, find us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, X and LinkedIn. Have alumni news or accomplishments to share? Please send it, along with a high-res headshot to journalism@berkeley.edu. Are you hiring? Please reach out to career.services@berkeley.edu. Want to learn about donating to the school? Contact stevekatz@berkeley.edu.
