Steve Adler, Reuters President, and Editor-in-Chief
Stephen J. Adler is President and Editor-in-Chief of Reuters, where he is responsible for the team that produces the news–text, photographs, video, insight, and commentary–that powers the world‘s markets and media, reaching over one billion users a day. He was named Editor-in-Chief, Reuters News, in 2011. Under Adler‘s leadership, Reuters has received scores of top journalism awards around the world, including Reuters first-ever Pulitzer Prize for text reporting in 2014 and a 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Before joining Thomson Reuters, Adler was Editor-in-Chief of BusinessWeek, where, during his five-year tenure, the magazine and its website won more than 100 major journalism awards. Earlier, he spent sixteen years at The Wall Street Journal, managing reporting teams that won three Pulitzer Prizes. Adler serves on the boards of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists, and is chairman of Columbia Journalism Review’s Board of Overseers. He is also a member of the International Media Council of the World Economic Forum, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Gerald R. Loeb Awards board of final judges.
Sarah Bartlett, Dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York
Dean Bartlett joined CUNY in 2002 as the Bloomberg Chair of Business Journalism at Baruch College. She moved to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in 2006, after serving on its founding curriculum committee. She created and oversaw both the Urban Reporting and the Business & Economics subject concentrations and helped found the school’s Center for Community and Ethnic Media. For several years, she was also the host of U$A Inc., a half-hour, weekly show on CUNY-TV.
Dean Bartlett’s journalism career began in 1979, when she joined a documentary film company in London as a research assistant. In 1981, she returned to the United States and began covering business as a researcher/reporter at Fortune magazine. She then moved to BusinessWeek, where she served as a staff reporter and an associate editor from 1983 to 1988, and an assistant managing editor from 1992 to 1998.She was also a reporter at The New York Times from 1988 to 1992, covering urban affairs, business and financial issues, a contributing editor at Inc.magazine, and the editor-in-chief of Oxygen Media.
Along with hundreds of articles, she has written two books, Schools of Ground Zero: Early Lessons Learned in Children’s Environmental Health (2002), co-authored with John Petrarca, and The Money Machine: How KKR Manufactured Power and Profits (1991). Dean Bartlett is a board member of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting and sits on the Board of Managers of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. She received her B.A. in Political Science and a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Sussex in England.
Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education
As Executive Director, Michelle has helped NAMLE grow to be the preeminent media literacy education association in the U.S. She launched the first ever Media Literacy Week in the U.S., developed strategic partnerships with media companies such as Participant Media, Nickelodeon, and Twitter, and restructured both the governance and membership of the organization. She has also overseen three national conferences and done countless appearances at conferences and in the media regarding the importance of media literacy education.
Michelle began her career in children’s television production, in various roles on both corporate and production teams. She earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from New York University. Michelle focused her grad work on children and television where she caught the “media literacy bug”. After graduate school, Michelle worked as a facilitator for The LAMP (Learning about Multimedia Project) teaching media literacy and production classes for Pre-Kindergarten to 5th-grade students.
Michelle is currently an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College in the TV/Radio department where she teaches media criticism and media literacy.
See Michelle’s Linked In Profile for more information.
Reg Chua, Reuters Executive Editor, Editorial Operations, Data & Innovation
Reg manages editorial operations, budgets, administration, safety and security for a 2,500-person newsroom; oversees data journalism and graphics; liaises with technology and R&D teams to build newsroom capabilities and tools. At Reuters, he created the award-winning Connected China project and drove development its social media verification tool, Tracer. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of the South China Morning Post, based in Hong Kong, and had a 16-year run with The Wall Street Journal, including as a Deputy Managing Editor in New York, where he developed its data journalism team, and as the longest-serving Editor of the Journal’s Asian Edition. He speaks regularly at conferences on trends in journalism. He’s also heavily involved in non-profit news, sitting on a number of boards of such organizations.
Dan Colarusso, Executive Editor, Digital
Dan Colarusso is the Executive Editor, Digital at Reuters, responsible for news coverage and direction for its consumer online platforms and digital video products. He is the founding editor of Reuters TV, a cutting-edge video news app. He’s also responsible for the editorial direction of Reuters.com, consumer online platforms, and their social media components.
Before joining Reuters in late 2011, he was the U.S. Managing Editor of Bloomberg Television; Managing Editor of Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com; and Business Editor and Metro Editor of the New York Post. His freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, Barron’s, Institutional Investor and The Daily Beast. He has a B.A. in Journalism from Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus.
Belinha S. De Abreu, Ph.D., Media Literacy Educator and an International Expert to the Forum on Media & Information Literacy for UNESCO”s Communication & Information Section
Dr. Abreu’s research interests include media literacy education, new media, visual and information literacy, global perspectives, critical thinking, young adults, and teacher training. Dr. De Abreu’s focus is on the impact of learning as a result of media and technology consumed by K–12 students; providing students with viable, real-life opportunities for engaging in various technological environments while in turn encouraging students to be creative and conscious users of technology and media.
Dr. De Abreu serves as the Vice President for the National Telemedia Council (NTC). The National Telemedia Council is a national non-profit organization that has been promoting a media-wise, literate, global society since 1953. NTC has a broad array of initiatives for researchers, teachers, parents, and youth. Part of NTC’s work is to recognize individuals whose long-time contributions exemplify the highest standards of excellence, fairness, ethics, and innovation in media literacy education with an award named after NTC’s co-founder, Jessie McCanse. NTC also produces The Journal of Media Literacy for which Dr. De Abreu is a member of the editorial board and has been a guest editor on several occasions. Now in its 63rd year, the journal brings together visionaries and practitioners and has consistently generated new connections and directions to grow the field of media literacy. More information can be found at http://www.nationaltelemediacouncil.org/.
Dr. De Abreu holds a BA in Communications with a concentration in television production and public relations, an MS in Library Science and Instructional Technology, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on media literacy from the University of Connecticut.
Katherine G. Fry, Professor of Media Studies and Chair of the Dept. of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Katherine G. Fry (Ph.D., 1994, Temple University) is Professor of Media Studies and Chair of the Dept. of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She teaches and publishes in the areas of media ecology; media literacy; and cultural analysis of journalism. A 2015 Fulbright recipient, she has lectured internationally in Turkey, Spain, and Germany. Currently, she is engaged in research and publications around changing the definition of news/journalism as our communication technologies change, examining specifically how audiences engage with news in this shifting media environment. In addition to many articles and book chapters, Fry is the author of Constructing the Heartland: Television News and Natural Disaster (2006), and Identities in Context: Media, Myth, Religion in Space the Time (2008, Edited with Barbara Jo Lewis). Fry has developed, and teaches, a model of activist media literacy education based on her grassroots media literacy education work as Co-Founder and former Education Director of the non-profit, New York City-based organization, The LAMP (www.thelamp.org
Renee Hobbs, Professor of Communication Studies at the Harrington School of Communication and Media at URI and Founder of The Media Education Lab
Professor Hobbs is an internationally-recognized authority on digital and media literacy education. Through community and global service and as a researcher, teacher, advocate, and media professional, Hobbs has worked to advance the quality of digital and media literacy education in the United States and around the world. She is Founder and Director of the Media Education Lab, whose mission is to improve the quality of media literacy education through research and community service.
For extended bio for Dr. Hobbs, click here.
Ryan McCarthy, Editor-in-Chief of VICE News
Ryan McCarthy is the Editor-in-chief of VICE News, where he runs its global digital newsroom and manages the online presence of its nightly and weekly news shows on HBO. Previously, he was a digital editor at the New York Times, Washington Post, and Reuters.
Barbara McCormack, Vice President, Education, Newseum
Barbara McCormack is vice president of education. As part of the founding staff when the Newseum opened in 1997, Barbara established the education department when the Newseum moved to Pennsylvania Avenue in 2008. She leads the team responsible for extending and enriching the museum experience for learners of all ages, with a reach of more than 1.5 million students each year through on-site and online programming and resources. Barbara is a former middle and high school teacher who was awarded an Outstanding New Teacher in Virginia award in 1995. She has been a noted speaker and committee leader at numerous educational organizations.
Julie Menin, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
Julie Menin is the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, an agency encompassing the key economic and creative sectors of film, TV, theater, music, advertising, publishing, digital content and real estate as it relates to these industries. In total, these portfolios account for over 305,000 jobs in New York City and $104 billion in economic output. Commissioner Menin also oversees NYC Media, the largest municipal broadcasting entity in the country including five TV Stations and a radio station with a reach of 18 million viewers in the metropolitan area. The newly created Office of Nightlife, which promotes the health, safety and vibrancy of New York City’s nightlife industries is also housed at MOME. Commissioner Menin also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia School of International and Public Affairs
Under her leadership, the Office of Media and Entertainment has launched several groundbreaking initiatives. A five-part women’s initiative, including a $5 million fund for women filmmakers and playwrights, is the first municipal program in the country designed to promote equality behind and in front of the camera in film and television, as well as onstage. The One Book, One New York program is the largest community read in the country. NYC Film Green is the first sustainable production designation program in the U.S. administered by a governmental entity.
Prior to her current appointment, Menin was Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs where she successfully increased restitution for consumers, reduced fines on small businesses, and administered NYC’s Paid Sick Leave Law. She also conceived of NYC Kids Rise, a pilot program and non-profit she now chairs, that provides public school kindergartners with seed money for college savings accounts.
Blake Morrison, Investigative Projects Editor, Reuters
Blake Morrison has served as the investigative projects editor at Reuters since October 2011. Before joining Reuters, he spent 12 years at USA TODAY, first as a reporter and then leading the newspaper’s investigative unit. He has edited four projects that became finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. His French bulldog, Oatmeal, turns 5 years old today.
Kyle Pope, Editor and Publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review
Before joining CJR, Kyle Pope held top posts at The Wall Street Journal, where he spent a decade as an editor and foreign correspondent, at Condé Nast, and at The New York Observer. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic and elsewhere. In the summer of 2017, Pope was asked to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on threats to the press.
A multimedia journalist whose work has been published by The New York Times, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, New York magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and Der Spiegel, Damaso spent three years as a volunteer journalist fellow for NLP, making presentations in New York City classrooms both in person and remotely from Barcelona, Spain, where he lived for several years.
Damaso is also a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, focusing on migration issues, and spent more than a decade as the principal photographer for “The Europeans,” a long-term photographic documentary project examining the changes that Europe and its people are experiencing as the European Union expands and integrates. Previous assignments and projects have taken him to a variety of countries, including Rwanda, Iraq, Indonesia and Tanzania, and throughout the United States. His images are featured in the 2014 monograph “Black: A Celebration of a Culture” and the 2005 book “Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War.”
A 2008 Fulbright Scholar, Damaso has received several grants and awards, including a 2007 Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, a 2012 Knight-Luce Fellowship for reporting on global religion, a 2013 French-American Foundation Fellowship for immigration reporting and a 2015 Holbrooke Fellowship from the International Center for Journalists.
Damaso attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he majored in photography.
Sheryl Huggins Salomon, Senior Editor-at-large TheRoot.com, Principal of Media Adept
Sheryl Huggins Salomon is a veteran journalist and digital media professional. She is senior editor-at-large at TheRoot.com, as well as the principal of Media Adept, which provides editorial and communications consulting services.
Sheryl has been managing editor of TheRoot.com and Black Voices at AOL, as well as editorial director of NewsOne.com, among other positions held during her career in media. She was co-editor of The Nia Guide series of self-help books about career success, work-life balance, and healthy living (2004-2005, Agate Publishing). She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School.
More information about Sheryl is at MediaAdept.com. She can be reached on Twitter via @sherylhugg.
Brian Stelter, Senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and the host of “Reliable Sources”
As CNN’s senior media correspondent, Stelter reports on trends, personalities, and companies across the media spectrum, from news to entertainment. He appears regularly on CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN.com, CNNMoney.com, and across CNN’s vast mobile and social landscape.
Stelter started at CNN in November 2013. He was previously a media reporter for The New York Times. He covered television and digital media for the Business Day and Arts sections of the newspaper. In 2013 he published the New York Times best-selling book “Top of the Morning,” about the morning television rivalry between the “Today” show and “Good Morning America.”
In January 2004 Stelter created TVNewser, a blog covering the television news industry. At the time, he was a freshman at Towson University. He sold TVNewser to Mediabistro.com six months later and continued to run it until May 2007, when he graduated from Towson with a degree in mass communication with a concentration in journalism. He joined The Times two months later.
Stelter was featured in the 2011 documentary “Page One: Inside The New York Times.” He appears regularly on television and radio to talk about media issues. He also moderates panels at conferences and speaks on college campuses. He lives in the West Village of Manhattan with his wife Jamie, the morning traffic anchor on NY1, the all-news cable channel in New York City. On Jamie’s food blog TV Dinner, he’s “B.”