Category Archives: Uncategorized

Alison Bethel McKenzie is the Executive Director of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the nation’s oldest, largest and most broad-based journalism organization with more than 8,000 members in nearly every state in the country.

By Rachel Sams

Many things in journalism are uncertain right now. But one thing is clear: as women journalists, it’s our time to step into our power.

Applications are now available for the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) 2018 fellowship program.

Dawn Garcia is the director of John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford and a past president of the Journalism & Women Symposium.

by Nikki Raz

This year the Fellowship Committee, with the help of the Legacy Committee, is offering 5 fellowships to 14 women.

We are expecting to receive the most applications we’ve ever had this year, and we need volunteers to help us review applications.

It’s Women’s History Month, and JAWS has much to celebrate. We are witnesses to history, and we have made history.

None of us knew Ida B. Wells or Nellie Bly, but we have the privilege of hanging out with our living icons, women like Betsy Wade, and Edie Lederer, and Linda Deutsch. We also get to hang out with each other, and who knows what the future will make of our work, and our travails?

By Lottie Joiner

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
― Ida B. Wells-Barnett

JAWS members have access to an email listserv on Google Groups and a Facebook group. The following usage policy applies to both services.

Lottie Joiner is the interim editor-in-chief of The Crisis magazine and a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist. She covers race, social justice, civil rights and African American culture. Her work focuses on issues that impact minorities, women, marginalized and underserved communities. She has written for The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Time.com, Vox.com, The Undefeated, Essence magazine and TheAtlantic.com.

The Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) organization, which advocates for and supports women journalists, condemns in strongest terms the apparent abuses of power and inappropriate, predatory and sexist behavior that are coming to light with developments such as NPR Senior Vice President of News Mike Oreskes’ resignation following accusations of sexual harassment.

Results are in for the Journalism and Women Symposium’s 2017-2018 Board of Directors election. Join us in welcoming new officers and members to the board.

Over and over, Rita Henley Jensen‘s friends and colleagues describe her as “a force.” They call her formidable and extraordinary. Jensen used those strengths to fight her way out of poverty and into an award-winning career in journalism, working all the while to amplify women’s voices and advocate for their health and welfare.

Jensen, the founder of Women’s eNews and of the Jane Crow Project, died Oct. 18 of breast cancer, according to her daughter, Ariel Jensen-Vargas. She was 70.

Andrea Crowley-Hughes is a writer and media maker with a passion for helping women and underrepresented journalists thrive.

Roxann Elliott is a freelance journalist and entrepreneur. She She will be working with Roxanne Foster the rest of the year and taking over the job of Journalism and Women Symposium Operations Director in January 2018.

By Selma Khenissi, JAWS member

Marj B. Paxson passed away at the age of 93. She is remembered for her leadership and trailblazing qualities.

A few accomplishments of JAWS highlighted in the 2016 Annual Report listed below.

Karen Michel’s primary work is with NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, where she primarily files arts features.

2017 fellowship recipient

Lisa Thomson is a fellow at Al Jazeera in Washington, D.C.

2017 fellowship recipient

Amanda Woytus is a multihyphenate; by day, she’s an editor at Food & Wine magazine in New York City. By night (and on weekends, lunch breaks, and even family vacations), she’s the creator of a passion project, a podcast called Life TK.

2017 fellowship recipient

Nesima Aberra is a recent graduate from American University’s M.A. in international media.

2017 fellowship recipient