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Hot Topics: The Fine Line Between Informing and Shaping Public Opinion

Speakers

  • Editor BBC Africa, BBC
    Solomon Mugera is in charge of BBC’s language services that broadcast to Africa on radio, TV, online, mobile and social media, reaching a weekly audience of more than 90 million. The languages include English, Hausa, Swahili, Somali, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi and French. BBC Africa has more than 200 employees based in London and on the continent where it operates bureaux in four key cities, Abuja, Dakar, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. In addition, it has offices in Abidjan, Accra, Bujumbura, Kampala, Kigali and Kinshasa. Over the past four years, BBC Africa has transformed from being a heavily radio-focussed broadcaster to a multimedia operation, with daily news and current affairs TV bulletins in English (Focus on Africa), Swahili, French and Hausa. Prior to being appointed Editor for BBC Africa, Mr Mugera headed the BBC Swahili service. He began his journalism career in Kenya where he first worked for the state broadcaster KBC later joining privately owned TV station KTN. Mr Mugera holds an MA in Media Management and has more than 20 years of experience as a broadcast journalist.
  • Freelance Journalist, Individual
    Ray Suarez is a host of the radio and podcast series WorldAffairs, heard on KQED San Francisco and public radio stations around the country, and a Washington reporter for Euronews. He recently completed an appointment as the McCloy Visiting Professor of American Studies at Amherst College. Suarez hosted Inside Story, a daily news program on Al Jazeera America, until the network ceased operation in 2016. Suarez joined American public television’s nightly newscast, The PBS NewsHour in 1999 and was a senior correspondent until 2013. During his years at the NewsHour he was assigned to cover global health. His reporting from Africa, Asia, and Latin America won many awards. He hosted NPR’s Talk of the Nation from 1993-1999. In more than 40 years in the news business, he has worked as a reporter in London and Rome, as a Los Angeles correspondent for CNN, and for the NBC-owned station WMAQ-TV in Chicago. Suarez is the author of three books: Latino Americans: The 500 Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation (Penguin, 2013), The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999, reporting on the causes of the destitution found in American cities after the Second World War, andThe Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America, examining how organized religion and politics intersect in America. His next work, on immigration, political, demographic, and cultural change, will appear in 2023. He is a contributor to the Oxford Companion to American Politics (June 2012), and many other books, including How I Learned English, Brooklyn: A State of Mind, Saving America's Treasures, and About Men. He’s been published in The New York Times, the Washington Post, Britain's Independent, Harvard University's Nieman Reports, and the Chicago Tribune.
  • , Independent
    Madhulika Sikka is former Executive Editor for NPR News, overseeing all desks and reporters, and helping set the agenda for the entire News division. Previously, Sikka was executive producer of NPR's Morning Edition, public radio's most-listened-to program. Under her leadership, Morning Edition traveled across the globe and the country reporting on the defining issues of our time. Sikka, an award-winning news producer, joined NPR in 2006 from ABC News where she was a Senior Producer at Nightline. She has also worked for NBC News in London and CBS News in Tokyo. She has a BA from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies and a MPhil from Cambridge University in Economic & Political Development. She is the author of A Breast Cancer Alphabet (Crown Feb 2014)
  • Executive Producer, PBS NewsHour
    SARA JUST - BIO Sara Just is the executive producer of PBS NewsHour and Senior Vice President of WETA. Since she came on board to lead the program in 2014, the NewsHour has seen growth in its audience, both on air and online, as well as a redesign of the broadcast, the launch of a variety of new features, contributors and partnerships, and an expansion of the number of enterprising stories the NewsHour covers around the world. The program has recently won a variety of journalism’s top awards and honors, including the Peabody Award and Emmy Awards. Just came to public broadcasting after more than 25 years at ABC News. In recent years, she served as ABC’s Washington Deputy Bureau Chief and Senior Washington Producer for Good Morning America. She previously spent 17 years at Ted Koppel’s Nightline, where she worked on a wide variety of award-winning foreign, domestic and political stories. Just moved to ABC’s Digital division in 2006 and led ABCNews.com’s political coverage over two presidential campaigns and supervised the development of political online products and partnerships, bridging digital and television coverage. Just is the recipient of 12 Emmy Awards, 2 duPont Silver Batons, 3 Peabody Awards, 3 Webby honors, 2 Cines, a Gracie, a James Beard Award and an RFK Journalism Award. In 2012 she completed the Sulzberger Leadership Program at Columbia University’s Journalism School. Just is a graduate of Columbia University. She serves on the boards of the Columbia Spectator and the Hope for Henry Foundation and the advisory board of Intelligence Squared-US. She lives in the Washington DC area with her husband and two sons.
  • President, Sobrato Family Foundation
    Sandy Herz serves as President of Sobrato Philanthropies, where she helps to guide the Sobrato family’s individual, collaborative and collective philanthropy. Prior to joining Sobrato Philanthropies, Sandy was Vice President, Partnerships & Engagement at the Skoll Foundation, where for 16 years she spearheaded flagship partnerships and provided leadership, integration, and alignment across Skoll activities to create broader impact from the work of leading social entrepreneurs. Sandy has held a variety of positions in nonprofit leadership and began her career in corporate finance in New York. She received a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Relations from Brown University, a Master of Arts in Administration and Policy Analysis from the Stanford School of Education, and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, but her best education came from selling frozen food door-to-door in the Boston suburbs during college.