Truth, or Consequences: A Forum on the Future of, and Imperative for, Journalism

Tara McGowan

Tara McGowan is the founder and publisher of COURIER, a fast-growing left-leaning news network with local newsrooms in ten states. COURIER is building a more informed, engaged, and representative democracy by reaching tens of millions of Americans where they are online with factual, values-driven news that inspires civic participation.

A former journalist and political strategist, Tara has seen firsthand how America’s growing information chasm has contributed to increased polarization and the rising threat of authoritarianism. Recognizing the need for a new model of media that exists explicitly to protect and strengthen our fragile democracy, Tara founded COURIER in 2019. COURIER is a network of state newsrooms whose on-the-ground reporters and correspondents deliver factual and empowering pro-democracy news directly to the social newsfeeds and inboxes of communities who have been left behind by traditional media. COURIER is one of the fastest-growing news networks in the country, with over 1.8M online subscribers, over 250K TikTok followers, and an average weekly reach of 12 million Americans online.

Earlier in her career, Tara led some of the largest digital advertising and marketing programs supporting progressive causes and candidates in U.S. politics, including at ACRONYM, Priorities USA, NextGen Climate, and as a digital strategist on President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. She studied journalism and political science at NYU and began her career reporting and producing long-form journalism for both 60 Minutes and PBS Frontline.

Marie Hardin 

Professor Marie Hardin has been dean of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State since 2014. Under her leadership, the Bellisario College —the largest fully accredited mass communications program in the country — has bolstered its reputation for high-quality undergraduate and graduate education, broadened its impact in interdisciplinary research, and expanded its outreach.  

Hardin is actively involved in journalism education. She chairs the committee for the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She is also on leadership board of the Alliance of Schools and Colleges of Communication and Journalism and is chair of the steering committee for the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. 

Hardin arrived at Penn State in 2003. In 2009, she was one of four Penn State faculty recipients of the University-wide George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. Hardin was promoted to associate dean for graduate studies and research in 2010. She has also held leadership roles in the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication and the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. She was elevated to associate dean for undergraduate and graduate education in 2011. She was promoted to professor in 2012. Before arriving at Penn State, Hardin was a newspaper editor and freelance magazine writer.  

Tricia Romano 

With more than 200 interviews with its legendary writers, editors, and photographers, including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Colson Whitehead, the late cultural critic Greg Tate, gossip columnist Michael Musto, and feminist writers Vivian Gornick and Susan Brownmiller—former Voice writer, Tricia Romano, uses THE FREAKS CAME OUT TO WRITE: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture (PublicAffairs; on sale February 27, 2024) to pay homage to the paper that wrote the first stories about the Stonewall Riots and the gay rights movement, saved NYC landmarks from destruction, and exposed corrupt landlords and judges.

TRICIA ROMANO began her eight- year career at the Village Voice as an intern. As a contributing writer she wrote features and award-winning cover stories about culture and music. Her reported column, Fly Life, gave a glimpse into the underbelly of New York nightlife. She has been a staff writer at the Seattle Times and served as the editor in chief of The Stranger, Seattle’s alternative newsweekly. A fellow at MacDowell, Ucross and Millay artist residencies, her work has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Daily Beast, Men’s Journal, Elle, Alta Journal, and the Los Angeles Times, among others.

Jean Guerrero 

Jean Guerrero is an award-winning journalist and essayist. A former opinion columnist at the Los Angeles Times, she is the author of the critically-acclaimed biography Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump and the White Nationalist Agenda. Her first book, Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir, won a PEN Literary Award and was named one of NPR's Best Books of 2019. Her writing is featured in Vanity Fair, Politico, The Nation, Wired, the New York Times, The Washington Post, Best American Essays 2019 by Rebecca Solnit and more. She won the 2022 "Best Commentary" award from the Sacramento Press Club. As an investigative border reporter at KPBS, she won an Emmy, contributed to NPR, the PBS NewsHour and more. Months before Trump’s family separations captured national attention, her PBS reporting on the practice was cited by members of Congress. She started her career at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires as a foreign correspondent in Mexico and Central America. She was named one of the California Chicano News Media Association’s most influential Latina journalists.

Shana Naomi Krochmal

Shana Naomi Krochmal is the VP of podcasting at LAist Studios, where she oversees development and production of on-demand audio programming. She was previously editorial director at Entertainment Weekly, where she created award-winning digital covers, oversaw a site relaunch and executive produced all podcasts, long- and short-form video and social media projects, including a daily entertainment news podcast, TikTok partnerships, AR lenses and an Alexa Skill.

Before that she was the editor in chief of Entertainment Tonight online, where she scaled the show’s microsite into a top-tier 24/7 digital video and news operation, with a key focus on building their YouTube business. She also worked at Current TV, was a decade-long contributing editor at OUT magazine, and at EW co-hosted their awards podcast and a Schitt’s Creek companion show with exclusive access during the show’s sixth and final season.

She grew up in Reno, Nevada, graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and lived in NYC three times before realizing she was best suited to LA, where she’s now been for 20 years. She and her wife Jessica live in Glassell Park with their dog, Miss Thing.

Emma Fox

A recent graduate from Loyola Marymount University, Emma Fox majored in journalism with a Chicano/Latino studies minor. She was the founder and president of her school’s chapters of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the president of the Society of Professional Journalists. Fox worked as an intern for The Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Voice and Viewpoint.

MAJS would like to thank the following LMU sponsors for their generous support of our event: 

• The Forum on Media Ethics and Social Responsibility
• Journalism Department
• Global Policy Institute
• Thomas & Dorothy Leavey Center for Study of Los Angeles