Wallace House Presents “Duterte’s Facebook-Fueled Rise to Power: Manipulating Public Opinion to Capture an Election”

Wallace House Presents Davey Alba of The New York Times and 2019 Livingston Award winner with Ceren Budak of the School of Information and College of Engineering 

Wednesday, January 29 | 4 – 5:30 p.m.
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Annenberg Auditorium
Free and open to the public

Watch the discussion here »

Join the Conversation

In 2018, journalist Davey Alba traveled to the Philippines to investigate Facebook’s breakneck proliferation in that country and President Rodrigo Duterte’s rise to power. She revealed how the politician’s incendiary style aligned perfectly with the tech company’s algorithms that reward entertaining, inflammatory content. From maligning opponents to espousing hardline policies to combat the drug trade, Duterte’s operatives created memes, propaganda and egregious libel that flourished on Facebook. Join Alba and Ceren Budak, associate professor, University of Michigan, for an examination of how demagogic political campaigns worldwide have weaponized the social media platform.

About the Speakers

Davey Alba is a reporter for The New York Times covering technology. Prior to joining the Times, she was a senior reporter at BuzzFeed News. She has been a staff writer at Wired and an editor at Popular Mechanics. Alba grew up in the Philippines and holds a B.A. degree from De La Salle University in Manila and an M.A. in science journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She received the 2019 Livingston Award for international reporting for her BuzzFeed investigation  “How Duterte Used Facebook to Fuel the Philippine Drug War“.

Ceren Budak is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and the College of Engineering. Her research interests lie in the area of computational social science, a discipline at the intersection of computer science, statistics and the social sciences.  Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research New York. Budak received a Ph.D. from the computer science department at University of California, Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Bilkent University in Turkey.

About the Moderator

Molly Kleinman is the program manager of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. She studies higher education policy, access to information, and faculty experiences with technology. Kleinman received a Ph.D. in higher education policy from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, a M.S. degree in information from the University of Michigan School of Information, and a B.A. degree in English and gender studies from Bryn Mawr College.

This Livingston Lecture event is co-sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program.

This event is produced with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Build Confidence and Skills with a Knight-Wallace Fellowship

Jennifer Guerra, Knight-Wallace alum, won a
Peabody Award for Michigan Radio’s podcast, “Believed.”

I wrapped up my Knight-Wallace Fellowship in April 2018. Thirteen months later I was at Cipriani’s in New York City, sharing the red carpet with Billy Porter and the cast of “The Good Place.” I was there with my colleagues from Michigan Radio, accepting a Peabody Award for “Believed,” our podcast about the women who brought down serial sexual predator Larry Nassar. I was the project’s executive producer and head of a newly launched podcasting unit – two roles that seemed out of reach before the fellowship.

“Believed” is the first nationally-produced podcast by Michigan Radio, an NPR affiliate that covers news across the state. It is one of the most in-depth, significant projects that we’ve ever taken on as a newsroom and a station and it became the first podcast produced by a member station to be distributed by NPR. The series topped the Apple Podcast chart one week after its debut and remained in the top 30 throughout the next eight weeks. In addition, being recognized with a Peabody Award, my colleagues Lindsey Smith and Kate Wells received the Livingston Award for the podcast series. None of these honors mean as much to us as the many letters and emails we received from survivors who said they were moved by our story. They’re the reason why we did the podcast: to help people understand how Nassar was able to abuse so many girls and women for so long, and how you could have missed it, too.

The podcast was a remarkable team effort: reporters, editors, producers, fact-checkers, lawyers. You can hear each of their names in the credits, along with a list of thank yous to folks who helped out on individual episodes.

The Knight-Wallace Fellowship wasn’t mentioned in the credits, but it may as well have been. For me, the fellowship gave me the confidence and skills to advocate for myself as executive producer of this major new project. And it gave me time.

Time away from deadlines. Time to focus on craft. Time to envision the next phase of my career.

The Fellowship intentionally, methodically pushes reporters out of their comfort zones. For some, that means taking courses in rocket science or Russian literature. For others, it means taking a modern dance class and pushing past what it feels like to learn something new in a room with trained 20-year-olds who know what they are doing. The goal is to step beyond what we’re used to in the newsroom and, instead, to sit in that moment of tension and discomfort and let it affect you.

I don’t pretend to speak for everybody who’s gone through the fellowship, but I can wholeheartedly say that for me, having the opportunity to step away from the daily news grind for nine months was liberating, and career-changing.

A podcast bootcamp at Wallace House in
November 2017

When I got to the University of Michigan, I thought about stories in terms of how they fit into four-and-a-half-minute radio features because that’s what I knew how to do; it’s what got me in the fellowship in the first place. But during those nine months as a Knight-Wallace Fellow, I got to entertain the possibility of something bigger. I spent hours talking to students about campus climate and civil discourse and explored new (to me) books in an ethnographic writing class with Ruth Behar. Jeremy Levine’s class on nonprofit business strategies was particularly inspiring, and, with help from Wallace House director Lynette Clemetson, helped me hone my own plan for where I wanted to take my work. By the time I left the fellowship, I had developed a vision – and an editorial and business pitch – for how to create a podcast unit within Michigan Radio.

I took that pitch back to Michigan Radio and immediately started work on “Believed” as the executive producer. As an executive producer, I was responsible for the overall production and execution of the nine-episode podcast. Since “Believed,” I’ve been working on podcasts full time. I’m now in charge of our nascent podcast unit and am currently developing limited-run and serialized shows for the station. We just released a five-part series about identity called “Same Same Different,” featuring one of my incredibly talented fellow Fellows, Regina H. Boone. My team and I are hard at work on a narrative podcast that will drop around the 2020 election. Stay tuned!

All this is to say: Apply! I don’t know how many times in your life you’ll have the opportunity to talk anytime you want to with some of the smartest people on the planet, to spend time with journalists from all over the world, to take a minute to wonder about what stories the world really needs to hear, see and read right now… and to develop the methods and frameworks to tell them.

The Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists at the University of Michigan are accepting applications from U.S. applicants for the 2020-21 academic year. We’re looking for accomplished journalists eager for growth and deeply committed to the future of journalism. The deadline to apply is February 1, 2020.

Learn more about the Knight-Wallace Fellowship »

Jennifer Guerra was a 2017-18 Knight-Wallace Fellow and is Executive Producer of Special Projects at Michigan Radio, an NPR affiliate in Ann Arbor. 

Documentary Screening “The Jewish Underground”


A documentary screening and conversation with Shai Gal and Jim Burnstein

November 4, 2019 | 2:30 p.m.

Annenberg Auditorium
735 S State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Free and open to the public.

Refreshments will be provided. 
Add to Calendar»
RSVP»

 

In the early 1980s, a network of right-wing settlers plotted to blow up the Dome of the Rock, the oldest existing Islamic monument situated on the most volatile site in the Middle East, the Temple Mount. Arrested in 1984 by the Israeli secret service Shin Bet, the conspirators were found to be responsible for several other attacks against Palestinians, including a series of car bomb attacks against West Bank mayors and schemes to blow-up civilian buses at rush-hour. Shai Gal’s documentary recounts the events surrounding their case and reveals the ties between the convicted plotters and leaders of the current Israeli government. Join us for a viewing and stay for a conversation with the documentary’s filmmaker, Shai Gal, and U-M’s director of screenwriting program, Jim Burnstein.

Watch the trailer  “The Jewish Underground”

 

About the Filmmaker:

Shai Gal is an Israeli filmmaker and investigative TV journalist. He was a correspondent for Channel 2 (Israel) and a 2012-2013 Knight-Wallace Fellow studying how extremists control the lives of others.

About the Moderator:

Jim Burnstein is a screenwriter, professor and director of the screenwriting program at the University of Michigan. He managed to beat the odds and make it as a successful Hollywood screenwriter without moving from his home in Plymouth, Michigan. Burnstein’s screen credits include “Renaissance Man,” the 1994 comedy directed by Penny Marshall and starring Danny DeVito; “D3: The Mighty Ducks” (1996-1997); “Ruffian,” the 2007 drama starring Sam Shepard co-written with Garrett Schiff of Los Angeles for ABC and ESPN; and “Love and Honor” (2013) starring Liam Hemsworth and Teresa Palmer, also written with Schiff.

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy is a co-sponsor of the event.

University of Michigan Names 2019-2020 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows

Knight-Wallace Fellows 2019-2020

The University of Michigan has named 17 journalists as Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows for the 2019-20 academic year. The accomplished group includes journalists from countries facing extreme political upheaval, cities facing transformational change and organizations confronting shifting public attitudes toward news consumption and the value of the press.

“At a time when the safety and freedom of the press are under threat and newsroom resources are continuing to shrink, it is especially important to provide journalists the space and support to pursue solutions, ” said Wallace House Director Lynette Clemetson. “Whether sharing techniques and tools across borders, experimenting with new storytelling forms or deepening important coverage areas and building public trust, these journalists all share a commitment to forging the path forward. It is a privilege to provide them with this unique opportunity.”

Knight-Wallace Fellows spend an academic year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to pursue individual study plans and to engage in collaborative learning through fellowship seminars, training workshops and travel. Through twice-weekly seminars, Fellows engage with visiting journalists, eminent scholars and creative thinkers from a range of fields. Weeklong international news tours provide broader context to political, economic and social forces shaping their fields of study, and to trends and challenges facing journalism in other countries. In recent years, Fellowship classes visited South Korea, Brazil, Canada, Turkey, Argentina and Russia.

This is the 46th class of journalism fellows at the University of Michigan. The program is based at Wallace House, a gift from the late newsman Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary. Knight-Wallace Fellows receive a stipend of $75,000 for the eight-month academic year. The program is funded through endowment gifts by foundations, news organizations and individuals committed to journalism’s role in fostering an informed and engaged public.

Fellows and their study projects are:

Tommy Andres, Senior Special Projects Producer, Marketplace, American Public Media. Utilizing transmedia production models to craft a single narrative storytelling experience across platforms

Ana Avila, Deputy Director, Newsweek en Español (Mexico City, Mexico). Measuring, tracking and documenting threats and dangers to Mexican journalists for safer newsroom practices

Niala Boodhoo, Host, “The 21st,” Illinois Public Media. Developing a sustainable, replicable business plan for local news podcasts

Maria Byrne, Senior Producer, BBC News (Brussels, Belgium). Expanding coverage of China’s growing ambitions in the world

Jacob Carah, Investigative Reporter and Producer, “Frontline,”  PBS, Flint Beat, Flintside (Flint, Michigan), and The Detroit News. Developing new visual design through data analysis, coding and documentary film

Janet Cho, Business Reporter, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) and others. How words and images influence public perception about immigrants and U.S. immigration policy

Chantel Jennings, Senior Writer, The Athletic. Forging editorial partnerships between local news organizations and college newsrooms

Tracie Mauriello, Washington Bureau Chief, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Experimentation with points of view and narration techniques in literary journalism

Maurício Meireles, Reporter and Columnist, Folha de São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil). Digital approaches to covering arts and culture

Marielba Núñez, Writer, Editor and Regional Coordinator, Crónica Uno (Caracas, Venezuela). New narrative strategies to report on the changing identities of migrants

Karen Rouse, Reporter, WNYC News, New York Public Radio. Improving strategies for newsrooms to recruit and develop journalists from underrepresented groups for long term success and leadership

Jet Schouten, Reporter, ICIJ and AVROTROS Public Broadcasting TV (Amsterdam, Netherlands). Deepening the understanding of truth and news in constructive journalism

Kwang Young Shin, Head of Criminal Justice Team, Dong-A Ilbo (Seoul, South Korea). Using digital storytelling to maximize the reach of Korea’s legacy media

Patrick Symmes, Contributing Editor, Harper’s Magazine,  Outside and others. A comparative study of authoritarianism and its influence on the press

Eileen Truax, Author and Reporter, The New York Times Edición Español and others. Developing global connections, shared networks and resources for journalists covering migration

Elodie Vialle, Head of  Journalism and Technology Desk, Reporters Without Borders (Paris, France). Building tools and training to counter online harassment and threats against female journalists

Elliott Woods, Writer and Photographer, Texas Monthly, The Guardian and others. Covering ongoing wars in an age of media contraction and declining military service rates

Read more on the Class of 2020 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellows

The selection committee included Wallace House Director Lynette Clemetson and Associate Director Birgit Rieck; former fellows Teresa Frontado (Digital Director, WLRN, Miami), Kate Linebaugh (Deputy National Editor, The Wall Street Journal), Mosi Secret (Investigative and Literary Journalist) and Yvonne Simons (News Director, KATU-TV, Portland, Oregon); and University of Michigan Professors Bobbi Low (Environment and Sustainability) and Carl Simon (Mathematics, Complex Systems and Public Policy).

About Wallace House
Committed to fostering excellence in journalism, Wallace House at the University of Michigan is home to the Knight-Wallace Fellowships, the Livingston Awards and the Wallace House Presents event series, programs that recognize exceptional journalists for their work, leadership and potential.
Wallacehouse.umich.edu

Announcing the 2019 Livingston Award Finalists

2019 Livingston Finalists

 

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists and the University of Michigan announced today the 2019 finalists in local, national and international reporting. The awards honor the best reporting and storytelling by journalists under the age of 35 across all forms of journalism. The 55 finalist selections were chosen from more than 400 entries.

The national judges will introduce the winners on June 4, 2019, at the annual Livingston Awards luncheon in New York City.

Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the University of Michigan to support the vital role of a free and independent press, the awards bolster the work of young reporters, create the next generation of journalism leaders and mentors, and advance civic engagement around powerful storytelling. Other sponsors include the Indian Trail Charitable Foundation, the Mollie Parnis Livingston Foundation, Christiane Amanpour and Dr. Gil Omenn and Martha Darling.

“Each year the Livingston Awards finalists remind us of the essential role journalism plays not simply in documenting facts, but in helping us all to understand, question and experience the complex issues of our times,” said Wallace House Director Lynette Clemetson. “Through excellence in reporting and creativity in storytelling these finalists moved the narrative on stories dominating the headlines and those that were largely unknown.”

The Livingston Awards regional judges read all qualifying entries to select the finalists in local, national and international reporting. The regional judging panel includes: Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer, “Frontline,” PBS; Molly Ball, national political correspondent, Time; Stella Chávez, education reporter, KERA Public Radio (Dallas); Chris Davis, Vice-President of Investigative Journalism, Gannett; David Greene, host, “Morning Edition,” NPR; Stephen Henderson, host, “Detroit Today,” WDET; and Shirley Leung, interim editorial page editor, The Boston Globe.

The Livingston Awards national judges review all finalist entries and select the winners. The national judges are Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent, CNNi and host, “Amanpour on PBS”; Ken Auletta, author and media and communications writer, The New Yorker; Dean Baquet, executive editor, The New York Times; John Harris, co-founder, Politico; Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune; Anna Quindlen, author; María Elena Salinas, independent journalist and producer; Bret Stephens, op-ed columnist, The New York Times; and Kara Swisher, executive editor, Recode

Following are the 2019 finalists, for work produced in 2018. Links to their work here.

Local Reporting

  • Carla Astudillo, Craig McCarthy, Sean Sullivan, Blake Nelson, Yan Wu, Disha Raychaudhuri and Erin Petenko, NJ Advance Media (NJ.com and The Star-Ledger)
  • Bethany Barnes, The Oregonian/OregonLive
  • Nate Berg, Curbed
  • Dave Boucher and Allen Arthur, The Marshall Project and USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee
  • Alison Bowen, Chicago Tribune
  • Zoë Carpenter, The Nation
  • Jessica Contrera, The Washington Post
  • Hannah Dreier, ProPublica in partnership with New York magazine, “This American Life,” and The New York Times Magazine
  • Liam Elder-Connors and Emily Corwin, Vermont Public Radio
  • Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press
  • Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting
  • Lizzie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
  • J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez, The Dallas Morning News
  • Julian Noisecat, High Country News
  • Nick Pachelli, San Francisco Magazine
  • Connor Sheets, Alabama Media Group (The Birmingham News)
  • Aliyya Swaby and Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune
  • Kendall Taggart and Mike Hayes, BuzzFeed News
  • Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith, Michigan Radio

 National Reporting

  • Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker
  • Elizabeth Bruenig, The Washington Post
  • Brian Burnsed, Sports Illustrated
  • Andrea Patiño Contreras and Almudena Toral, Univision News Digital in collaboration with the Knight Foundation and The Intercept
  • Caitlin Dickerson, The New York Times
  • Emily Gogolak, Politico Magazine
  • Vanessa Gonzalez-Block and Emma Seslowsky, CNN
  • Jihan Hafiz, “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien,” Hearst Media
  • Derek Kravitz, Al Shaw, Claire Perlman, and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica
  • Julia Lurie, Mother Jones
  • Daniel Medina, The Intercept
  • Tricia L. Nadolny, The Philadelphia Inquirer
  • Sophie Nieto-Muñoz and Alex Napoliello, NJ Advance Media (NJ.com and The Star-Ledger)
  • Chris Outcalt, The Atavist Magazine
  • Lizzie Presser, The California Sunday Magazine in partnership with the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute
  • Naveena Sadasivam and Zoë Schlanger, Quartz and Texas Observer
  • Sarah Smith, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
  • Margaret Cheatham Williams, Ella Dobson, Angela Stempel and Jocie Juritz, The New York Times
  • Will Wright, Caity Coyne and Molly Born, The GroundTruth Project / Report for America in partnership with Lexington Herald-Leader, Charleston Gazette-Mail and West Virginia Public Broadcasting

 International Reporting

  • Atossa Abrahamian, The New York Times
  • Davey Alba, BuzzFeed News
  • Anna-Catherine Brigida, World Politics Review
  • Mstyslav Chernov and Krysta Fauria, The Associated Press
  • Mansi Choksi and Kim Wall, Longreads
  • Luisa Conlon, Hanna Miller and Lacy Jane Roberts, The New York Times Op-Docs in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
  • Jane Ferguson, PBS NewsHour
  • Ryan Gallagher, The Intercept
  • Louisa Loveluck and Zakaria Zakaria, The Washington Post
  • Niharika Mandhana, The Wall Street Journal
  • Timothy McLaughlin, Wired in partnership with the Pulitzer Center
  • Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
  • Sonia Smith, Texas Monthly
  • Kejal Vyas, The Wall Street Journal
  • Spencer Woodman, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
  • Finlay Young, ProPublica in partnership with Time

More on the finalists and links to their work »

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The Threat to Global Press Freedom: Censorship, Imprisonment and Murder

Vanessa Gezari, Itai Anghel, Leonard Niehoff and Jawad Sukhanyar
Clockwise: Vanessa Gezari, Itai Anghel, Leonard Niehoff and Jawad Sukhanyar

Knight-Wallace Fellows Vanessa Gezari, Itai Anghel and Jawad Sukhanyar with media law scholar Leonard Niehoff at the Eisendrath Symposium

March 26, 2019 | 3 p.m.
Rackham Amphitheatre, fourth floor
915 Washington Street, Ann Arbor

Watch the discussion »

 

 

 

On stage with the foreign correspondents of Wallace House at the Eisendrath Symposium

Harmful rhetoric towards journalists and the press casts doubt about the future of a free press and the safety of reporters. This was evident following the murders of five staff members at the Capital Gazette and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As democratic nations fall short in protecting press freedom, what are the implications for journalists of all nations? In alarming numbers, reporters around the world are persecuted, jailed, exiled and even killed for exposing the truth.

Knight-Wallace journalists Vanessa Gezari of The Intercept, Itai Anghel of Israeli TV, and Jawad Sukhanyar of The New York Times discuss how threats and state censorship impact their work. In a discussion led by the University’s media law and First Amendment scholar Professor Leonard Niehoff, they share their experiences reporting from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa and discuss what can be done to protect journalists and foster press freedom around the world.

The Eisendrath Symposium honors Charles R. Eisendrath, former director of Wallace House, and his lifelong commitment to international journalism.

 

About the Speakers

Vanessa Gezari is a 2012 Knight-Wallace Fellow and The Intercept’s national security editor. She has reported from four continents, nine countries, and many corners of the United States for outlets such as the Washington Post, Slate and the New Republic. She is the author of “The Tender Soldier,” about an experimental U.S. military program and its use in Afghanistan, and an adjunct professor at Columbia Journalism School.

Itai Anghel is a 2019 Knight-Wallace Fellow and a correspondent and documentary filmmaker for UVDA, a weekly investigative current affairs and documentary program on Israeli TV, Channel 2, where he also worked as a senior foreign affairs correspondent. Previously, he was a correspondent and chief editor of foreign affairs at Galatz (GLZ) Radio Station. He received the Sokolov Award, the highest award for outstanding journalism in Israel, in 2017, and he is a five-time recipient of the Best TV Documentary in Israel award from the Israeli Forum of Documentary Filmmakers.

Jawad Sukhanyar is a 2019 Knight-Wallace Fellow and a reporter for The New York Times in Afghanistan. He joined the Times in 2011 and is now the longest serving reporter in the paper’s Kabul bureau. Sukhanyar covers human rights and women’s issues and also covered the 2014 disputed Afghan presidential election. He worked as a researcher on a book about a couple who escaped an Afghan honor killing for the author Rod Nordland. Until 2011, he was a freelance reporter and researcher for various foreign news organizations. He also served as interpreter and researcher on a biography of former Afghan president Hamid Karzai for the author Bette Dam.

About the Moderator
Leonard Niehoff  is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where he teaches courses in Media Law, First Amendment, and the history of banned books, among other things. He is the author of more than one-hundred articles, many in the field of free speech, and is currently at work on a book about the First Amendment. He has also practiced media and First Amendment law for over thirty years, representing numerous print publications, broadcasters, online media, and journalists. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.

 

Free and open to the public.

This event is produced with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Michigan Radio and the Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies are co-sponsors of the event.

Livingston Winners at The Power of Narrative Conference

 

Longform Narrative on a Breaking News Cycle: Crafting the “74 Seconds” Podcast

March 23 | 10: a.m.
Boston University, George Sherman Union
Backcourt

Wallace House travels to Boston University’s The Power of Narrative conference with the 2018 Livingston Award winning Minnesota Public Radio team. Riham Feshir, Tracy Mumford and Meg Martin will share how they traced the shooting death of Philando Castile, followed the officer’s courtroom trial and brought contextual insights about race, law enforcement and justice together for a 22-episode podcast, while simultaneously reporting the breaking news story for radio and the internet.

Speakers:

  • Riham Feshir is a reporter at Minnesota Public Radio currently reporting on immigration policy, race and culture. Feshir graduated from the University of Minnesota’s journalism program and started her career working at community newspapers in greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities area. She came to MPR four years ago as an evening general assignment reporter chasing breaking news. She quickly jumped into coverage of police shootings in the Twin Cities and the aftermath of high profile incidents including the shooting of Jamar Clark and the Minneapolis police fourth precinct occupation that followed. She reported on marches, protests and highway shutdowns, along with other daily news and enterprise stories on various topics including mental health and vulnerable adults.

 

  • Meg Martin is a managing editor on the enterprise team at Minnesota Public Radio. She joined the MPR newsroom as a digital editor after a short stint at MPR’s Public Insight Network and five years in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Roanoke. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. Martin was the editor behind the ’74 Seconds’ 22-episode podcast, for which she received the 2018 Livingston Award for Local Reporting.

 

  • Tracy Mumford is a podcast developer producer for American Public Media, the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio. A graduate of the University of Chicago and the Salt institute, she served a one-year term with AmeriCorps and worked at nonprofit art organizations before landing her first journalism job at Minnesota Public Radio. As a producer, Mumford joined the team in writing, reporting and producing every episode of ’74 Seconds.’ The team received several awards for the podcast. Mumford  and two of her colleagues also received the 2018 Livingston Award for Local Reporting.

Wallace House Presents an Evening with Ronan Farrow and Ken Auletta


Ken Auletta and Ronan Farrow

“The Weinstein Effect: Breaking the Stories That Spurred a Movement”

Tuesday, March 19
Rackham Auditorium

Watch the discussion here »











 





 





Wallace House Presents an evening with Ronan Farrow and Ken Auletta









In October, 2017, The New Yorker published reporter Ronan Farrow’s exposé detailing the first on-the-record accounts of alleged assault and rape by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, followed by a series of pieces on the systems that enabled him. Farrow’s investigation helped spur a worldwide movement that redefined our cultural and institutional responses to sexual harassment and assault. Word of Weinstein’s abusive behavior had circulated among Hollywood and media circles for years. In 2002, the acclaimed author and New Yorker media writer Ken Auletta published a deeply reported profile detailing the powerful producer’s threats and intimidation tactics, but he could not get any of the women alleging sexual assault to go on the record. What changed—in Hollywood, in media, in society—to make 2017 such a turning point?





Join Wallace House Presents for an evening with reporters Ken Auletta and Ronan Farrow as they discuss their individual attempts to get to the truth about Harvey Weinstein and how reporters ultimately stood together in confronting one of the biggest stories in recent memory.





Questions for speakers? Tweet us using #WallaceHouse.





 





About the Speakers









Ronan Farrow is a contributing writer for The New Yorker and the author of “War and Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence.” His next book, “Catch and Kill,” about how Weinstein and other power brokers wield influence to suppress explosive stories, is forthcoming. In 2018, Farrow received a Livingston Award for his New Yorker investigation of Harvey Weinstein. A native of New York City, he is a lawyer and former government advisor. Farrow is a graduate of Bard College and Yale Law School.





Ken Auletta is an author and media writer who has written the “Annals of Communications” profiles and essays for The New Yorker since 1992. He joined the Livingston Awards national judging panel 37 years ago and is now the program’s longest serving judge. He recused himself from voting in the national reporting category in 2018. The author of twelve books, his most recent book, “Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else),” was published in 2018. His writing and journalism has been recognized with numerous awards and honors including the 2002 National Magazine Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Silurians.









This event is co-sponsored by
U-M College of Literature, Arts and Science
Department of American Culture
Department of Women’s Studies
Department of English Language and Literature





This event is produced with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.







			


	



			
				

	

		
U.S. Military and Counter-Terrorism in Africa: Is Anybody Watching?

				

					

			


	

		
 


John Ciorciari, Christina Goldbaum and Bronwyn Bruton
John Ciorciari, Christina Goldbaum and Bronwyn Bruton


Wallace House Presents Christina Goldbaum, Bronwyn Bruton and John Ciorciari  


NEW DATE

Wednesday, March 13 | 4 – 5:30 p.m.

Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Annenberg Auditorium

Free and open to the public


Watch video »


 


Join the Conversation


In 2017, journalist Christina Goldbaum’s on-the-ground investigation in Somalia exposed a U.S. military raid alleged to have resulted in the deaths of 10 Somali civilians. From a peacekeeping and nation–building force to troop build-ups, drone strikes and counter-terrorism operations, the U.S. rules of engagement are changing. Join Goldbaum, the Atlantic Council ‘s Bronwyn Bruton and the Ford School’s John Ciorciari for an examination of the U.S. military’s presence and role in Africa and the implications for civilian lives and global security.


 


About the Speakers


Christina Goldbaum is a reporter for The New York Times covering immigration. Prior to joining the Times, she was a freelance foreign correspondent in East Africa, where she spent a year in Somalia reporting on U.S. national security issues. Goldbaum received the 2018 Livingston Award for international reporting for her story of the U.S. military’s alleged role in the massacre of Somali civilians.  Goldbaum also broke stories on the build up of a secretive U.S. military post and the details of the first two U.S. combat deaths in Somalia since Black Hawk Down.


Bronwyn Bruton is director of programs and studies and deputy director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. Recognized as an authority on the Horn of Africa,  her articles and editorials about the region appear regularly in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, Foreign Policy magazine and other publications. Bruton has held fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


 


About the Moderator


John Ciorciari is an associate professor of public policy and director of the Ford School’s International Policy Center and director of the Weiser Diplomacy Center. His research focuses on international law and politics in the Global South.


 


This Livingston Lecture event is co-sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the International Policy Center.


 


This event is produced with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.


 




			


	



			
				

	

		
Wallace House Presents “Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison”

				

					

			


	

		
Journalist and author, Jason Rezaian


“Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison” with journalist and author Jason Rezaian


March 12, 2019 | 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.


Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre


Free and open to the public.


Book signing by author will follow the event.


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In July 2014 Washington Post journalist and former Tehran bureau chief, Jason Rezaian, was arrested by Iranian police on charges of espionage. What followed was a harrowing 544 day stint in an Iranian prison, and an extraordinary campaign led by his family, the Washington Post, and prominent journalism organizations for his release. Join Rezaian for a discussion on his book “Prisoner,” which details his 18-month imprisonment in a maximum security facility, his journey through the Iranian legal system and how his release became part of the Iran nuclear deal.


Jason Rezaian is a contributor to CNN and  a writer for Global Opinions at the Washington Post. He served as the paper’s correspondent in Tehran from 2012 to 2016. Born and raised in Marin Country, California, Rezaian is a graduate of Eugene Lang College, New School University.


 


Iranian Studies, Global Islamic Studies Center and Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies are a co-sponsors of this event.