Jennifer Preston

Fellow

Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy | Harvard University

Jennifer Preston was most recently Vice President for Journalism at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For more than six years she oversaw an ambitious expansion of Knight’s portfolio to help address the gaps in local original reporting and equitable community information, halt the spread of mis/disinformation, and fund legal resources for journalists to hold the powerful to account and ensure press freedom. This support helped launch The American Journalism Project, NewsMatch, Report for America, News Revenue Hub, and a number of other journalism initiatives. Previously Preston spent almost two decades at The New York Times and eleven years at Newsday as an award-winning reporter, editor, social media pioneer and senior newsroom executive. She has also taught journalism at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. While at the Shorenstein Center, Preston will research sustainable, scalable solutions for local news, and opportunities to increase social impact investments and philanthropic support for journalism.

Participating Sessions

LOCAL JOURNALISM: OF DESERTS AND REGROWTH

“All journalism is local” goes the old saw, but if so, then all journalism is in trouble. In the last seventeen years, a quarter of all American newspapers have gone under, with local papers in small communities disappearing fastest. With them goes accountability. Where once there were vital avenues for reasoned public debate, there are now news deserts, lacking any ongoing press presence. The Storm Lake Times, captured in the...

Storm Lake