Medill National Security Reporting Project 2013

This project was done under the auspices of the National Security Journalism Initiative, which is part of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Media Communications.

Medill, a national leader in journalism education for decades, has expanded that leadership role to include national security journalism education with the assistance of generous Robert R. McCormick Foundation grants.

As part of that effort, the school created the NSJ Initiative in January 2009 to provide journalists-in-training and working journalists with the knowledge and skills necessary to report accurately and . innovatively on events and issues related to defense, security and civil liberties.

The NSJ initiative’s National Security Reporting Project, launched in 2010, provides scholarships to up to 10 Medill graduate students a year who have completed or are near completion of the master’s program. They spend three months reporting on a topic of national security interest, and present their investigative work in innovative ways across all digital platforms in collaboration with professional media partners.

The first effort, Global Warning, (www.global-warning.org) on the national security implications of climate change, won a prestigious national award from the Online News Association. The 2011 project on the challenges facing the military reserve component, Hidden Surge, also garnered national attention. Both were published by The Washington Post; the 2010 project also was distributed by McClatchy News Service. The 2012 project on energy security, Oil Change, was published by GlobalPost and featured on The Washington Post’s website.

This project, done with USA Today, is the first time the National Security Reporting Project team worked with a professional media partner from the very outset, and in close cooperation with a media partner’s editors.

The 2013 National Security Reporting Project team:

Mackenzie Allen, Multimedia & print reporter

Robert Andersson, Multimedia & print reporter

Darla Cameron, Interactive advisor

Corinne Chin, Multimedia & print reporter

Kennedy Elliott, Interactive advisor

Drew Kann, Multimedia & print reporter

Tom Kennedy, Multimedia and photo/video advisor

Josh Meyer, Project leader and editor

Elissa Nadworny, Multimedia & print reporter

Chuck Neubauer, Investigative advisor

Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory, Multimedia & print reporter

Ajai Sreevatsan, Data & Interactive reporter

Kate Van Winkle, Interactive and print reporter

Laurel White, Print reporter

For USA TODAY: Jodi Upton, Senior Database Editor