News21 fellows presented findings about food safety to a crowd of students and faculty at the Walter Cronkite School as part of the school’s Must See Mondays speaker series, following recent publications of their work in the Washington Post and msnbc.
News21 is a national program produced by the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation in order to encourage journalism students to partake in hard-hitting investigative journalism. Five universities including ASU participated in the News21 project this year.
The event was led by Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of the Washington Post and professor for the Walter Cronkite School.
The benefits these students receive are extremely important for their future prospects, Downie said.
“There is invaluable experience in doing such in-depth reporting, writing complicated long-form stories … and having your work exposed to an important, professional audience,” he added.
Jody Brannon, a long-time digital journalist and the national director of News21, emphasized the caliber of talent present in this year’s fellows.
“In the end, they had to be smart, aggressive, hard-nosed, knowledgeable reporters willing to dig deep into food safety issues,” Brannon said, “and we got them.”
Six ASU students presented the topics they focused on and discussed their findings. The students spent months researching, investigating and writing about the topic of their choice.
Joanne Ingram, a graduate student majoring in mass communication, investigated the salmonella outbreak that occurred in Rhode Island.
“There were only seven health inspectors for 8,000 food establishments,” Ingram said. “It really did affect a lot of people.”
Brandon Quester and Tarryn Mento, both Cronkite graduate students, examined the staggering flow of imported produce into the United States.
Nicole Gilbert, who is enrolled in a concurrent bachelor’s and master’s degree program through Barrett, the Honors College and the Cronkite School, investigated the importation of tainted seafood.
All three students’ findings emphasized the lack of inspection of imported goods.
Whitney Phillips, a graduate student from the Cronkite School, researched the FDA’s minimal oversight on produce.
“Companies basically self-regulate what they do to keep seafood and juice safe,” Phillips said.
With the recent listeria outbreak, the findings of News21 are even more important to the community. Brannon said she believes it was a wise choice to investigate food safety because of its prominent role in everyday life.
“It shows you that our reporting is a timeless topic that has relevance far beyond when students finish their fellowship,” Brannon said.
After devoting a large amount of time to researching different aspects of food safety, Phillips said she feels the experience of working with News21 has taught her various valuable lessons.
“I am ecstatic I was able to have this experience,” Phillips said. “Collaboration was one of the most difficult parts.”
Daniel Borgertpoepping, a freshman journalism student, said he found the overall presentation to be very powerful.
“I think the findings were impressive,” Borgertpoepping said. “Every reporter wanted to dig to the heart of each story.”
In her farewell to the News21 fellows, Brannon said she feels confident about what the students have learned from this experience.
“They’ve turned into better workers, smarter journalists, and more capable futurists,” she said.
Contact the reporter at bianca.repasi@asu.edu
Editor’s note: Downtown Devil managing editors Stephanie Snyder and Dustin Volz both were part of the News21 program. Snyder participated in the Must See Monday event as one of the student presenters.
