MCLA Announces Jodie Ginsberg as Hardman Journalist in Residence

NORTH ADAMS — MCLA announced that Jodie Ginsberg will deliver the Hardman Journalist in Residence Lecture, “Defending Journalism in an Age of Rage,” on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. in MCLA’s Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation atrium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Ginsberg is CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that defends press freedom worldwide. A journalist by profession, Ginsberg joined CPJ in 2022 from Internews Europe, where she was CEO.

She began her career as a graduate trainee with Reuters, working as a commodities reporter before taking up a posting as a foreign correspondent in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she focused on the region’s financial sector. She subsequently worked as Reuters’ chief correspondent in Ireland, based in Dublin, and then bureau chief for the U.K. and Ireland. In that role, she managed coverage of the 2008 financial crisis, U.K. riots and 2010 general election, as well as overseeing the merger of the Thomson and Reuters U.K. newsrooms. In 2014, she was appointed chief executive of London-based freedom of expression group Index on Censorship, which she led until 2020.

An internationally respected campaigner on issues of media freedom and freedom of expression, Ginsberg is a regular speaker on journalist safety and issues involving access to information. From 2020 to 2022, she was chief executive of Internews Europe, a media development nonprofit, and she currently serves on the board of the Trust for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and as a council member of IFEX, an international network for freedom of expression organizations. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Cambridge and a postgraduate diploma in newspaper journalism from City, University of London.

“An American journalist with international experience, Jodie Ginsberg actively works to protect journalists around the world,” MCLA Professor and Communication and Intercultural Studies Department Chairperson Hannah Haynes said. “Her experience as a journalist and advocate for freedom of speech engages with some of the most polemical issues of our time, making her an ideal candidate for the Hardman Journalist in Residence. Responding to MCLA students’ interests, Ginsberg’s keynote lecture will cover global topics impacting journalists today. Her visit includes a student journalism workshop focusing on journalism ethics and careers in the field.”