BIOGRAPHIES

USC Annenberg’s Institute for Justice and Journalism
2009 Ethnic Media Fellowship
“Urban Environmental Justice: Reporting the Full Story”

FELLOWS

EDWIN BUGGAGE is the editor-in-chief of The New Orleans Data News Weekly. In his position, he leads his editorial team as well as writing articles that have earned his paper numerous awards for its coverage after Hurricane Katrina. He is a native of New Orleans who has worn many hats in the field of communications; he has worked in both television and print. He is also a musical performer and songwriter who has contributed vocals to award-winning albums and has appeared in venues across the U.S. He worked for more than a decade at Xavier University of Louisiana as a library staff member and is presently completing his memoir, entitled “Diary of a Survivor,” and upcoming album, “Inside My Soul.”

LORI EDMO-SUPPAH is the editor the Sho-Ban News – the weekly newspaper of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes located in Fort Hall, Idaho. She is a graduate of the University of Montana, Missoula and has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. She’s served nine years on the Native American Journalists Association Board of Directors and has held the offices of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. She also served two years on the Unity Journalists of Color Board of Directors. Edmo-Suppah worked for a year as a Journalist in Residence at the University of Idaho School of Communication (now known as School of Journalism and Mass Media) under a grant from the Freedom Forum. During the past four years, she has focused on learning more about her family history, culture and the Bannock language that is at risk of being lost. Eventually, she would like to publish a book about tribal history. She is married to Delson Suppah Sr. and they have three children.

NADRA KAREEM is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles. A native of Chicago, she has been on staff at the Inland Valley section of the Los Angeles Times, the El Paso Times, the Santa Fe Reporter and the L.A. Watts Times. She has also written for a number of magazines, including hip-hop publication The Source, feminist periodical Bitch and Christian journal Prism. Since the spring of 2008, Kareem has contributed to the Web log Racialicious.com, which explores the intersection of race and popular culture. Kareem’s work has been cited by Pulitzer Prize winning feminist Susan Faludi, “Dateline NBC” and the New York Times.

KARI LYDERSEN is based in Chicago and writes for a wide range of media outlets including The Washington Post (where she is on staff in the Midwest bureau), The Chicago Reporter, In These Times, ColorLines, Contratiempo and the Earth Island Journal. She specializes in environmental, science and environmental justice stories, including a focus on Latin America and immigrant communities. She is author of "Out of the Sea and Into the Fire: Latin American-US Immigration in the Global Age" (Common Courage, 2005); "Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun" (City Lights, 2008) and "Revolt on Goose Island" (Melville House, 2009). She also teaches Community News at Columbia College.

BRENTIN MOCK is a 2009 Metcalf Institute Diversity Fellow for Environmental Reporting, writing on staff for The American Prospect magazine based out of Washington D.C. He covers environmental justice issues across the nation. Before then he wrote on staff for The Intelligence Report, an investigative reporting magazine published by Southern Poverty Law Center that focuses on organized hate organizations and hate crimes in the U.S. His work for IR led to him winning the 2008 National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Award in magazine investigative reporting for his story on Mexican gang attacks on African Americans in Los Angeles. His work there also helped lead the magazine to win the 2008 UTNE Independent Press Award for magazine investigative reporting. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and has a son named Justice.

JULIO CÉSAR ORTIZ is a news reporter at KMEX, the Univision station in Los Angeles. His stories and his involvement with the immigrant community have been recognized at local, state and national levels. He has received 17 Emmy’s, including best writer, best on-air talent, Journalistic Reporter of the Year and best series coverage. Ortiz attended Santa Barbara City College and California State University, Northridge, where he majored in journalism and communication studies. In 1998, as a student at Northridge he founded the first 30-minute weekly Spanish newscast in the California State University system. He won, two years in a row, the Associated Press Writer of the Year in the Western United States. He also twice won the Regional Edward Murrow for Best Writer. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has recognized him four times since 2002 as the Best News Feature, Investigative and Human Interest reporter. His reports on immigration have been featured in “Noticias Univision” coverage. He is enrolled in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, where he is working on his master’s degree in the College of Urban Education.

DEVIN ROBINS is an award-winning journalist who began her career at National Public Radio in 1997. She is now senior producer for “The Michael Eric Dyson Show” on public radio. During her tenure at NPR, she worked for several national radio shows including "Talk of the Nation," "The Tavis Smiley Show" and "News and Notes." Over the years, her work has included producing more than 100 hours of NPR's live news coverage of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. She's also produced several NPR specials on subjects ranging from criminal justice to mental health, addiction, hip hop and an in-depth look at how race is lived and perceived in American society. For the past three years, Robins produced NPR's long-running "Africa Update" segment, which chronicles the affairs of the continent from a political, cultural and economic standpoint. She was a 2008 Ochberg Fellow with the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma. Devin graduated from San Diego State University and lives in Southern California with her husband.

HUÁSCAR ROBLES reports on urbanism, culture and social interest issues for Metro San Juan magazine. He has written numerous investigative and academic articles and is the recipient of an Excel Award. Robles has a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and is completing a master’s degree in cultural studies at Sacred Heart University in Puerto Rico.

TALIA WHYTE is a freelance journalist who writes about social justice issues around the world. She has been writing about human rights issues as they relate to politics, media and technology matters, pop culture and all things Africa for nearly ten years. She has been published in newspapers in the United States, the Caribbean and Africa. Whyte has been producing work for ethnic media for six years, most recently for the Bay State Banner and WGBH’s Basic Black’s multimedia project. Her written work can also be found in publications such as the Houston Chronicle, New York Daily News, The Progressive, Real Clear Politics and The New Internationalist. Whyte is also a new media consultant and founder and director of Global Wire Associates (www.globalwireonline.org), an international initiative to promote innovative communication for advancing social justice. She blogs daily at Global Wire (www.globalwire.blogspot.com).

SENIOR FELLOW

JANET WILSON, a veteran reporter, specializes in covering environment and energy issues. As IJJ’s Senior Fellow for Environmental Justice, she played a leading role in planning the 2009 Justice and Journalism Fellowships on urban environmental issues. With support from the Institute’s Justice and Journalism Fund, she also is completing a package of stories on life in the shadow of industrial zones. As an environment reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times, she covered everything from inner city neighborhoods grappling with deadly soot and hexavalent chromium to White House officials quashing scientists’ findings on ozone, climate change and endangered species. Wilson was part of teams honored in 2008 awards by The Associated Press and Los Angeles Press Club for the Times’ wildfire coverage. She was a frontline reporter on the Times team that covered the 2003 wildfires and won the paper’s 2004 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Wilson worked at the Los Angeles Times from 1996 to 2008. Previously, she worked with the Detroit Free Press, Boston Globe, New York Daily News, CNN, ABC News “Nightline” and other outlets. As a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, she made a documentary about juvenile violence in Detroit. Wilson received an M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and a B.A. from Yale University.