Foundation Speakers

Paula Knudsen Burke, Esq.

Paula Knudsen Burke is a RCFP Local Legal Initiative staff attorney. She joined the Reporters Committee in 2020 from LNP Media Group, Inc. A licensed Pennsylvania attorney for two decades, Paula has…

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Melissa Melewsky, Esq.

Melissa Melewsky is Media Law Counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. She provides legal advice and advocacy to newspapers across the Commonwealth on a wide range of legal topics affecting the newspaper…

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Kate Huangpu

Kate Huangpu follows how and why the state government works the way it does, paying special attention to how the structure of our government expands or excludes who can participate in democracy….

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Angela Couloumbis

Angela Couloumbis tracks the lobbyists with access to top elected officials and the money that sometimes shapes which policies are prioritized in state government. Her stories have illustrated the nexus between politics…

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Brad Bumsted

Brad Bumsted is the retired Harrisburg bureau chief for LNP | LancasterOnline and The Caucus.  Bumsted worked 18 years as an award-winning reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review covering Harrisburg. Previously he was…

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Michele Haddon

Michele Haddon is an award-winning multimedia journalist covering food, dining, small business, economic recovery and revitalization in the Philadelphia suburbs of Bucks County for The Intelligencer and Bucks County Courier Times. Prior…

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Stephen Jiwanmall

Stephen Jiwanmall (he/him) is an assistant professor of communication at La Salle University in Philadelphia. He teaches courses in journalism, media production and public relations. Stephen worked as a multimedia journalist for eight years,…

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Rick Kearns

Rick Kearns is an award-winning freelance journalist, poet and teacher who has written for daily, weekly and monthly news publications since 1986. His work has focused on Latino and Native American issues….

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Cate Barron

Cate Barron championed diversity, equity and inclusion throughout her 44-year career in journalism. As president of PA Media Group, she built a robustly diverse company and leadership team. In her recent retirement,…

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Rod Hicks

Rod Hicks is director of ethics and diversity at the Society of Professional Journalists. He creates projects, conducts training, gives speeches and writes stories about the need for journalists to adhere to…

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