On Assignment

The final installment of our “Women We Love” series features Nikole Hannah-Jones— investigative reporter for the New York Times Magazine, known for her extensive coverage of racial justice and civil rights for outlets including ProPublica, The Atlantic and Essence Magazine. She’s won many awards, including the 2012 Columbia Journalism School Tobenkin Award for distinguished coverage of racial or religious discrimination, and a Polk Award for her 2016 This American Life episode about school desegregation in Missouri. Hannah-Jones discussed these experiences at the Columbia Journalism School in September as part of our Delacorte Lecture Series, which brings in leading writers and editors from the magazine world to speak to our students.

The third installment of our “Women We Love” series features Kelly McEvers—co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered and veteran conflict reporter. McEvers shares her experiences covering the Arab Spring, the war in Iraq and more recently, back home reporting for her podcast Embedded. Listen to the episode, then check out McEvers' poignant self-reflective radio documentary on why reporters, herself included, risk their lives in conflict zones, Diary of a Bad Year.

The second installment of our “Women We Love” series features Monica Alba—embed journalist at NBC News, Columbia Journalism School alum and former duPont Fellow. In the episode, Alba shares some behind-the-scenes insight into what life is like on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton. She’s been part of Clinton’s press corps for more than a year, and she stole an hour away to return to the J School so we could hear what it’s like to be on the tarmac day-after-day with the campaign. Hint: “Stamina” is the word of the episode. Learn more about what Alba and her fellow campaign embeds experience on the trail here. Watch Alba discuss the email scandal and Bernie Sanders’ campaign with Clinton here. The “Women We Love” series features great conversations with women who are in the field, setting an example for our students with their outstanding reporting. All have a special connection to our Columbia J-School Prizes Department.

In episode 2 we interrupt our Women We Love series for a breaking story - a conversation with New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman, who literally wrote the book on the Roger Ailes/Fox News story, and has led the pack on it since. His latest is a cover story detailing the recent developments regarding the sexual allegations directed at Ailes, with new revelations. Professor Bill Grueskin talks to Sherman with a room full of interested journalists and journalists-in-training, just as we learn the news that Fox News has settled anchor Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit for 20 million dollars. Then we talk to Grueskin in our On Assignment studio to hear what impressed him most about Sherman's exhaustive work.

On Assignment's season two premiere is the first episode in a series called, Women We Love. These episodes will feature great conversations with women who are out in the field setting an example for our students with their outstanding reporting. All have a special connection to our Columbia J-School Prizes Department. Our first episode features filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, whose film Cameraperson, was the final screening at the duPont sponsored film series Film Fridays last spring. She has worked as the principal cinematographer on over 40 feature-length documentaries. Some of her credits include award-winning pieces like “The Invisible War,” “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Women, War and Peace.” Kirsten has a longstanding collaboration with Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras and is credited as cinematographer for “The Oath,” “Citizenfour,” and the upcoming "Asylum." Her directorial debut, Cameraperson, is a deeply personal and autobiographical film that Kirsten calls, “an acknowledg

The final episode of our mini season features three time duPont-Columbia winner WVUE Chief Investigative Reporter, Lee Zurik. Lee demands unprecedented accountability from government officials, private citizens and corporations in New Orleans. Listen in on a conversation between Lee and Lisa at the recent Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) annual conference, where he talks about one of the most outrageous objects of his scrutiny, plus how he cultivates sources.

NPR Congressional Correspondent Ailsa Chang joins Abi for a conversation on her transition from law to journalism and being open to a career’s unexpected turns. Ailsa won a duPont Award in 2012 for her two-part investigative series on allegations of illegal searches and unlawful marijuana arrests by the New York City Police Department.

We kick off On Assignment’s Summer Mini Series with CBS News 60 Minutes producer and duPont winner, Nicole Young. In this episode, Nicole talks about the power of the follow-up, and how one unplanned question led to the best moment in Hard Times, a story about homelessness in Florida.

Our duPont fellows, Erika Glass and Laura Brickman, bring you an outtake from our conversation with the J school's Daniel Alarcón, who moderated our episode with the producers of Serial.

On Assignment’s season finale features accomplished filmmaker and the founder of Columbia Journalism School’s Documentary Program June Cross. She took the stage at a recent Film Friday screening with producer Lisa Desai to discuss their latest film - Wilhemina’s War, available on PBS until June 1st, then for sale online at Women Make Movies. In this podcast, June walks our audience through the film’s exhaustive five year production, which traces the impact of HIV through three generations of women in a rural South Carolina community. Hear June and Lisa on the successes and pitfalls of documentary filmmaking and the difficulties of covering such an emotionally painful subject.

Listen in on a conversation with the journalists behind the worldwide phenomenon Serial: Host and Executive Producer Sarah Koenig, Executive Producer Julie Snyder and Producer Dana Chivvis. Serial won a 2016 duPont-Columbia Award, and has been downloaded over 200 million times.

In this episode, Spotlight comes to the J-School. Meet the Boston Globe reporters who unveiled a major sexual abuse scandal within the ranks of the Catholic Church. Editor Walter “Robby” Robinson and reporter Sacha Pfieffer discuss taking on the highest of power, how their Pulitzer Prize-winning stories inspired the film Spotlight - the big winner at this year’s Academy Awards, and what it felt like in the audience when the Oscar was announced.

What would it be like if the Nazis were still in power after the holocaust? Towns all over Indonesia experience this every day. Adi Rukun, an Indonesian optometrist, sets out to confront the men responsible for murdering his brother - The Look of Silence tells his story. The film’s director, Joshua Oppenheimer talks about what happens when the perpetrators of a genocide go unpunished. The Look of Silence is a companion piece to The Act of Killing - both films were nominated for Oscars. Oppenheimer visited Columbia Journalism School last year to show the film and to talk about it afterwards, as part of our Film Fridays documentary series.

What’s it like to take on one of the most powerful institutions in the country? Filmmaker Alex Gibney talks to Professor Betsy West about the making of his controversial, duPont-winning film Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. He discusses the legal risks associated with taking on the Church of Scientology and the psychological hold the church has on its members.

New York Times' Paris Bureau Chief Alissa J. Rubin talks to former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson about covering war-torn countries, the helicopter crash that left her severely injured and reporting on the Paris terror attacks.

Coming soon – a chance to listen in on powerful conversations with some of the most influential journalists of today. Upcoming episodes feature the likes of Alissa J. Rubin, Jill Abramson, Joshua Oppenheimer and Alex Gibney. We're excited to share these with you!