These are the presenters for the 2024 conference.
Amanda Barrett
Vice President for News, Standards and Inclusion, Associated Press
Amanda Barrett is Vice President for News, Standards and Inclusion at the Associated Press. She manages a four-person Standards and Style team, which sets standards for AP journalism and produces the renowned AP Stylebook, a reference book for journalism and communication professionals. Amanda also oversees the Nerve Center, the AP’s global news coordination hub, talent development and news research. In 2020, Amanda created an Inclusive Storytelling effort focused on broadening the global AP news report to bring in more diverse audiences and viewpoints. The AP partners with The Maynard Institute and The Ida B. Wells Society on an Inclusive Journalism Initiative.
Colin Benedict
Vice President of News, Morgan Murphy Media
As VP of News for Morgan Murphy Media, Colin Benedict helps local market teams develop strategies to build audience in six US markets. From 2008 to 2020, he led a group of talented journalists as news director at WISC-TV in Madison that focused on market-leading coverage and unique storytelling across all platforms. Their website, channel3000.com, is one of the most influential local sites in the country. Benedict is committed to continuous improvement and leading through journalism’s changing times.
Kathleen Biggins
Founder and President of C-Change Conversations
Kathleen Biggins is the Founder and President of C-Change Conversations, a national nonprofit dedicated to fostering understanding about the risks of climate change to our economy, health and security, and geopolitical stability. In 2014, Kathleen recognized that climate change was a significant risk but that few people were talking about it because it was seen as such a polarizing and far-off topic. That year she pulled a team together to create C-Change Conversations with the goal of depoliticizing the issue and helping others understand how it might impact them personally. Kathleen hails from New Orleans and is a graduate of the University of Virginia and attended the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, Germany, as a Rotary Scholar. She now lives in Princeton with her husband and their dog.
Greg Bluestein
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Greg Bluestein is a political reporter and author who covers the governor’s office and Georgia politics for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He writes for the front-page of the AJC, contributes to the Political Insider blog and morning Jolt newsletter, co-hosts the Politically Georgia podcast and is a frequent guest on local and national TV and radio programs. He’s an MSNBC and NBC News contributor and the author of “Flipped,” a book on Georgia’s epic 2020 election. He’s a proud graduate of the University of Georgia with degrees in journalism and political science, and Axios named him the “most dedicated” Bulldog fan at the 2023 national championship game. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Dunwoody.
Amanda Bright
Senior Academic Professional, College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
Amanda Bright, PhD, MJE, is a senior academic professional at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, specializing in news product innovation, design, and pedagogy. She is the managing editor of Grady Newsource, assistant editor and instructor for The Oglethorpe Echo, and co-director for the Solutions Journalism Hub for the South at UGA. She is also the director of the Journalism Innovation Lab for the Cox Institute for Innovation, Management & Leadership. Formerly, Bright was a professional journalist, freelance editor, web developer and social media director.
Charles Davis
Dean, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
Dr. Charles N. Davis has been dean of the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2013. Prior to his appointment, he served for 14 years as a faculty member at the University of Missouri. He served from 2005-2010 as Executive Director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and from 2000-2010 as Executive Director of the School’s Freedom of Information Center. Dr. Davis worked for ten years as a journalist after his graduation from North Georgia College, before leaving full-time journalism to earn a master’s degree from Grady College and a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Florida. His teaching awards include the Provost’s Award for Junior Faculty Teaching in 2001, the University of Missouri Alumni Association’s Faculty/Alumni Award in 2008, and the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Teacher of the Year Award in 2008.
Kanina Holmes
Executive Producer, CBC Yukon
Kanina Holmes is an executive producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). She’s also an associate professor at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication. Kanina lives in Canada’s far Northwest and, with gratitude, calls the Yukon home. She leads a vibrant team of reporters, producers, and hosts at CBC Yukon, working in the service of Canada’s public broadcaster. Every day brings new ideas, new challenges, new possibilities. Kanina embraces life as a working journalist, an educator, and a researcher. She’s fascinated by place-based storytelling, experiential learning and pushing the boundaries of journalism.
Lori Johnston
Director, Cox Institute Journalism Writing Lab, College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
Lori Johnston, MFA, is an award-winning journalism lecturer whose classes have an emphasis on providing relevant, real-world experiences to help students develop foundational reporting, interviewing and writing skills in today’s fast-paced media landscape. She is the lead instructor for Reporting I: Critical Skills for Reporting and Storytelling, the course in which all journalism majors create their digital portfolios and establish a professional social media presence. She also teaches courses including religion reporting, home and garden writing, and Media Savvy: Becoming Digitally Literate, one of four courses in UGA’s Certificate in News Literacy. She directs the Cox Institute’s Journalism Writing Lab, which serves as a publishing hub for students to produce compelling stories on poverty, county government, personal finance, mental health and lifestyle journalism for media partners, new journalism initiatives and the Covering Poverty website. Johnston is a former Associated Press journalist and magazine editor; she co-founded Fast Copy News Service, whose work has been published by Cox Media Group/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and HGTV.com.
Frank LoMonte
Newsroom Legal Counsel, CNN
Frank LoMonte is newsroom legal counsel for CNN, advising the network’s worldwide team of journalists on the legalities of gathering and publishing news across all platforms. LoMonte came to CNN in 2022 from the University of Florida, where he taught media law and ran the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, a think-tank about freedom-of-information law. He spent nearly a decade as executive director of the nonprofit Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C., where he launched the “New Voices” campaign to pass state laws protecting the independence of student newsrooms. A 2000 honors graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, LoMonte was an investigative reporter and political columnist before becoming an attorney. His work on behalf of open government and journalists’ rights has been recognized with numerous awards, including the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Foundation Roll of Honor and the National Press Photographers’ Association First Amendment Award.
Lyn Millner
Professor, Florida Gulf Coast University
Lyn Millner has taught solutions journalism on climate change, the fentanyl epidemic, food insecurity and more. She is a professor of journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she studies misinformation and cults. Lyn is the author of “The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, A Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet.”
Al Tompkins
Visiting Professor, Syracuse University, and former Senior Faculty for Broadcast and Online, The Poynter Institute
Al Tompkins is a visiting professor in the Department of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. Prior to joining Syracuse University, Tompkins was senior faculty at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida for 25 years. He taught thousands of professional journalists in classes, workshops and conventions worldwide. For 12 years, he wrote a daily column read by more than 10,000 journalists globally. He also taught and coached journalists in news organizations including CNN, CBS, NBC, Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, CBC (Canada), CTV (Canada) Global (Canada, TV2 (Denmark), SABC (South Africa), The Weather Channel and local news organizations including WNBC, WCBS, WBBM, WCAU, WTVF, WSMV, WMAQ, WFAA, KNBC, KCBS, WTVJ, WFOR, WSB, WCCO and dozens of others.
Joe Watson
Carolyn Caudell Tieger Professor of Public Affairs Communications, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
Joseph Watson, Jr. is the inaugural Carolyn Caudell Tieger Professor of Public Affairs Communications at Grady College. In this role, Watson oversees the first program in the nation to provide students with practical training in the strategy and practice of public affairs communications focused on public policy and politics. Watson brings 20 years of experience in public affairs, campaigns and communications to Grady College. He served as an appointee in the Administration of President George W. Bush where he led the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s domestic policy office. Professor Watson also worked on Capitol Hill, serving as Legislative Director and Legislative Counsel to former U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald of Illinois. Prior to joining the faculty of Grady College, Professor Watson established and led the public affairs communications group for Exelon Corporation, a Fortune 100 company. At Exelon, he managed award-winning public advocacy campaigns that successfully raised public and policymaker awareness of the value of nuclear energy, culminating in the enactment of unprecedented new legislation and rules promoting nuclear energy in Illinois and New York. Prior to leading Exelon’s Public Advocacy group, he managed federal government affairs for the company in Washington, D.C.
Deb Wenger
Associate Dean and Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Mississippi
Deb Wenger has been studying best practices in journalism education for more than 20 years, most recently co-authoring a study for JMCE titled “Has Journalism Education Kept Up With Digital Transformation?” She is currently a trainer for RTDNA’s Google News Initiative Program and editor-in-chief of Electronic News, the journal for the Broadcast and Mobile Journalism Division of AEJMC. At the University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism and New Media she serves as associate dean for academic affairs and teaches multimedia storytelling.
Katy Culver
Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Professor; James E. Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics; Director, Center for Journalism Ethics, University of Wisconsin
Long interested in the implications of digital media on journalism and public communication, Culver focuses on the ethical dimensions of social tools, technological advances and networked information. She combines these interests with a background in law and free expression. She also serves as visiting faculty for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and was the founding editor of PBS MediaShift’s education section. Culver’s current work explores emerging technologies, such as virtual reality, drones and sensors, and how their use in news affects both ethics and journalism’s relationship with the public. She has examined journalism ethics during the Trump presidency and ideologically driven free expression controversies on college campuses.
Mark E. Johnson
Principal Lecturer of Photojournalism and Chief Technology Officer, College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
Mark E. Johnson is the principal lecturer of photojournalism and chief technology officer at the University of Georgia’s College of Journalism and Mass Communication, where he has taught since 2005. Johnson directs multiple experiential workshops, including the Woodall Weekend Workshop which brings students into rural Georgia counties to work on in depth photo stories and has lead student reporting trips at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia, the 2018 Department of Defense Warrior Games and the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He has been on the visiting faculty at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, directs the National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism competition and oversees renovation projects for the college.