In the spring of 2021, Spectrum News NY1 produced a one-hour special in collaboration with Newmark J-School about our programs. “Meet Tomorrow’s Storytellers’’ premiered in the summer as part of the celebration of the school’s 15th anniversary. It was anchored by NY1 political anchor Errol Louis, who has taught urban reporting at the J-School for more than a decade.
The special demonstrated how Newmark J-School — through its bilingual, drone, documentary, engagement journalism, and other programs — bolsters newsrooms by training journalists with cutting-edge skills.
The hour included six segments as well as two panels about school programs. It featured current students, faculty, Dean Sarah Bartlett, and numerous alumni, many of them journalists working at NY1, the cable news network known for its local coverage of New York City.
Watch the individual stories posted below — or the entire special on our YouTube channel.
Bilingual Journalism
NY1 Noticias reporter Joaquín Torres, a 2017 alum, describes the school’s bilingual program with a focus on Juanita Ramos ’21 and award-winning journalist Graciela Mochkofsky, the program’s director.
Errol Louis interviews Juan Manuel Benítez, host of NYl’s Pura Política and an adjunct professor, about how the school created the nation’s first graduate journalism program in Spanish and English.
Engagement Journalism
Errol Louis moderates a panel discussion about the school’s pioneering master’s degree in Engagement Journalism that embeds reporters in communities. Joining Louis are alums Luis Miguel Echegaray ‘15 and Kristine Villanueva ‘17 and Terry Parris, Jr., engagement director for The CITY and an adjunct professor.
Students Reporting
NY1 reporter and 2010 alum Amy Yensi profiles Emily Nadal ‘21 who spent her second semester reporting for the Mott Haven Herald and The Hunts Point Express, community newspapers that have a partnership with the J-School to cover the South Bronx.
Emani “King” Mack ‘21 and Cheyann Harris ‘21 explain how their unique perspective has led them to tell stories on “219 West,” a student-produced monthly news show on CUNY–TV, that are not being told elsewhere.
4 Groundbreaking Programs
Documentary
NY1 Noticias reporter Estefanía Hernandez, a 2017 alum, explores the school’s documentary specialty with Na–eela Djemil ‘21 and award–winning filmmaker Yoruba Richen, who directs the program.
Drones
NYl’s Dan Rivoli, a 2007 alum, follows Megan Caceres ‘21 as she practices flying and shooting pictures from a drone in Associate Professor Travis Fox‘s drone journalism class at a park in Gravesend, Brooklyn
Investigative
Errol Louis interviews Maria Robins Somerville ‘19 and Tom Robbins, investigative journalist in residence, about the J-School’s partnership with the CUNY Law School to assist long–term inmates who are seeking clemency.
Entrepreneurial
This segment on the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program features the director, Jeremy Caplan, and Betsy Ladyzhets, an independent science and data journalist who started the COVID–19 Data Dispatch. The program was established to meet the demands of journalists bypassing established media companies to create their own self-sustaining microventures.