Dart Center Names 2024 Ochberg Fellows

Established in 1999 for journalists wishing to deepen their knowledge of trauma science and improve their reporting on traumatic events and their aftermath, the Ochberg Fellowships are awarded to outstanding senior and mid-career journalists working across the world in all media who specialize in covering violence, conflict and tragedy on every scale, from street crime and family violence to disaster, war, terrorism, conflict and genocide.

"This year’s 14 Ochberg Fellows all personify the special ethical and professional commitments demanded by trauma reporting," said Bruce Shapiro, the Dart Center's executive director. "Representing nine countries and six continents, they are all journalism innovators who have delved deeply into the impact of violence and tragedy, and will come together in New York at a moment when their work is more urgently needed than ever."

Through seminars with leading experts and journalism practitioners, the week-long Fellowship provides journalists a unique opportunity to explore the many dimensions of psychological trauma; to discuss ethical and craft challenges raised by their work; and to forge relationships with colleagues from around the world who share their interests and commitment.

I-Ting Chiang is a Taiwan-based investigative journalist with nine years of experience. Her reporting has centered on issues related to gender, human rights, and the judicial system. Her coverage spans Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Japan, earning recognition through awards such as the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Awards, the Asian Human Rights Journalism Award, and Taiwan’s Foundation for Excellent Journalism Award. Her recent projects, as seen in works such as “Stolen Faces: Investigation on Deepfake Pornography in Taiwan” and "The Girl Hunt: How image-based sex abuse becomes a lucrative business for scammers,” have dealt with complexities surrounding the pressing problem of digital sexual exploitation. She currently works with the Mirror Media, where she continues to spark vital conversations and push for social change.

Megan Guza is an award-winning journalist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she has led the newspaper’s criminal justice and public safety coverage since joining the newsroom in September 2022. Prior to this, she spent a decade at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, beginning as an intern and ultimately leading the outlet’s public safety and, later, COVID-19 coverage. A native of Southwestern Pennsylvania, her reporting moves between breaking news, explanatory journalism, and in-depth narrative news coverage spotlighting stories and issues from all sides of the justice system. Her coverage at the Tribune-Review included the killing of an unarmed Black teenager by a suburban Pittsburgh police officer and the resulting protests and homicide trial. Later that year, she led the paper’s coverage of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history at a Pittsburgh synagogue. At the Post-Gazette, she brought that coverage full circle as the lead reporter on the three-month death penalty trial that ended in a death sentence for the shooter. That coverage earned her a 2024 Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council, and she is a finalist in the newspaper category of the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Awards.

Aya Ibrahim is Special Correspondent at DW News - the flagship news show of Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster. Her work has included covering Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Israel's war in Gaza, the Turkish elections, and Iran’s protest movement. Before that, Ibrahim was a video producer for DW News Digital. There, she launched "Unpacked," a video explainer series breaking down global headlines. In 2021, ahead of Germany’s national election, she developed "Flipping the Script," a debate format that reversed the roles of candidates and voters and won gold at the Lovie Awards. The format was produced again ahead of the EU 2024 election. In 2022, she was among the “Top 30 bis 30” selected each year by Germany’s Medium Magazin to highlight outstanding young journalistic talent. She is a graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, and is based in Berlin.

Stephen Kalin is a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal based in the Middle East, where he has lived since 2009. He also began reporting from Ukraine in 2022. He moved to Riyadh in 2017 to cover the rise of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the profound social, economic and political shifts underway in the kingdom. Kalin previously worked for Reuters News across the region. In Iraq, he covered the US-backed military campaign to end the Islamic State group’s control of territory, reporting extensively from the frontlines of that war in Mosul and Anbar province. Before that, he covered the Syrian civil war and the rise of Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He has reported from more than a dozen countries. Kalin is from New York. He earned a degree in political science from Davidson College and then learned Arabic in Cairo.

Nina Lakhani has reported from more than a dozen countries including seven years freelancing across Mexico and Central America, and six years as a staff reporter in London with the Independent newspapers. She is currently a senior reporter for the Guardian US based in New York City, and continues to report on climate and environmental justice stories from across the region. She is the author of "Who Killed Berta Cáceres?: Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet," which has been published in four languages. Before journalism she was a mental health nurse working with people in crisis. 

Somayeh Malekian is an Iranian journalist based in London. In 2011, she transitioned from her teaching job to join The New York Times and The Washington Post Tehran bureaus. In 2018 she started to work as ABC News’ Iran producer. Despite severe censorship, she covered anti-regime protests across the country, the regime's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of violation of women's rights, tensions between Iran and the world, and the country’s collapsing economy. After several warnings about her coverage, the Iranian press office cancelled her press accreditation in 2020, prompting her to leave the country. However, she kept reporting for ABC News from Istanbul and London. Since then, she has covered significant international news including the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan on women, the civilian toll of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Iranian uprising of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

Pete McKenzie is a journalist who writes about New Zealand and the Pacific for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and The Economist, among other outlets. He is a finalist for this year's Livingston Award in International Reporting, which honors the best reporting for American media by journalists under 35, for a series of New York Times dispatches about trauma and corruption in the Marshall Islands. In 2023, McKenzie was named Reporter of the Year at the New Zealand Media Awards. He is the youngest reporter since 1981 to receive the country's highest journalist honor. McKenzie has a masters degree in global politics from Columbia University, which he attended as a Fulbright scholar, and a law degree with first class honors from Victoria University of Wellington. Before journalism, he worked as a judge's clerk in New Zealand's High Court and served as an infantry officer in the New Zealand Army Reserve. 

Jessica Miller is an investigative reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune. She was part of a team that won a 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for investigating mishandled sexual assault reports at Utah college campuses. She is a two-time Livingston Award finalist, recognized for her data-driven reporting on Utah police shootings and her investigation of Utah's lucrative "troubled teen" industry. While working at The Tribune, she has collaborated with several national nonprofit newsrooms for investigative work — including a film with FRONTLINE, an investigative podcast with American Public Media and a fellowship with ProPublica's Local Reporting Network.

Rebecca Moss is an investigative reporter for The Seattle Times, where she has focused most of the last three years on mental health reporting including sex crimes and human trafficking. She first reported on trauma and mental health as a reporter in Cambodia, covering the Khmer Rouge tribunal and the lack of care for children with developmental disabilities. Before joining The Seattle Times, she was a staff reporter for Spotlight PA, a statewide investigative team and project of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and for the Santa Fe New Mexican, winning top environmental reporting awards in both states. Her reporting in Pennsylvania resulted in the state repaying $19 million to over 100,000 people who had been overcharged unemployment interest fees. In partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, she reported a year-long series on serious nuclear health and safety lapses at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which won a top award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism and a national Headliner Award with InvestigateTV. Her work has appeared in the Village Voice, Elle.com, and Vogue.com. Originally from New Mexico, she holds a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University.

Francine Orr was a staff photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times from 2000-2024. While serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia, she learned to be a quiet observer and gained a love for stories. She was raised in Colorado and earned bachelor’s degrees in both history and art from the University of Saint Mary. Orr has focused on public health and poverty issues across Africa, India, and the United States. In Los Angeles, she has concentrated on the growing homeless crisis since 2005. Focusing on the impact of the coronavirus, she reported inside 14 hospitals throughout the pandemic. In 2022, she received the coveted Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma and the National Headliner Award. She also won the 2020 Meyer “Mike” Berger award for an outstanding example of in-depth, human interest reporting from Columbia Journalism School and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature photography in 2012. Other awards include the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Center for Public Integrity’s Daniel Pearl Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service, the Harry Chapin Award, Sidney Hillman Award as well as honors from Pictures of the Year International, the National Press Photographers Association, and the Los Angeles Press Club.

Carol Pires is a journalist, screenwriter, and holds a master's degree in Latin American studies from Columbia University in New York. Currently, she is a senior producer at the podcast production company Radio Novelo. She is the creator of the podcast "Retrato Narrado," a Spotify original, which tells the story of Jair Bolsonaro, from his childhood in the interior of São Paulo to the presidency of Brazil. She co-wrote the film "The Edge of Democracy" (Netflix), which was nominated for the 2020 Oscar for Best Documentary, and the documentary series "Extremistas.BR" (Globoplay) was awarded the Vaclav Havel Prize, which honors exceptional actions of civil society in defense of human rights. For seven years, she co-wrote the comedy news show "GregNews", aired on HBO Max Brazil. As a journalist, Pires was a reporter for the magazine Piauí, mainly covering Latin America for the Brazilian publication, and was a contributing op-ed writer for The New York Times en Español. Her work has also been published by various international outlets such as The New Yorker (United States), Reportagen Magazin (Switzerland), Internazionale (Italy), Courrier International (France), Etiqueta Negra (Peru), Gatopardo (Mexico), and El País (Spain).

Jana Pruden is a feature writer and podcaster at The Globe and Mail in Canada. Currently based in Edmonton, Alberta, Pruden has spent her career on the Canadian prairies, primarily focusing on crime and justice stories and breaking news reporting. She has led breaking news coverage of some of the largest natural disasters and mass murders in Canadian history, and in her narrative work, focused on longer-term stories about individuals and families affected by homicide, domestic violence, wrongful conviction, and the lasting effects of Canada’s residential school system. Pruden has won numerous awards for her reporting and writing, and is a frequent teacher and presenter on subjects related to journalism, crime reporting, and violence against women. The first season of her narrative podcast series, "In Her Defence," was a #1 podcast on Apple, and one of Amazon’s top podcasts of 2023 in Canada.

Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu is a conflict reporter from Nigeria who has bylines in several international publications. She is currently the Managing Editor at HumAngle Media, where her work examines the human cost of terrorism and insurgencies as they relate to transitional justice issues, migration, and displacement. She has done extensive work documenting the aftermath and effects of war on people through long-form reports and documentaries. She has been published on African Arguments, Aljazeera, Minority Africa, The Republic, Sahelien, and elsewhere. Shaffii Nuhu is a 2018 writer-in-residence at Ebedi Writers Residency, a 2022 Storify Africa Fellow, a 2023 Pulitzer Centre grantee, and a 2023 International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) grantee. She has been trained by several institutions and has spoken at international conferences and panels. 

Anastasia Taylor-Lind is a British/Swedish photojournalist who has been reporting on war and injustice for the last 20 years. She is a National Geographic Society Explorer, a TED fellow and a 2016 Harvard Nieman fellow. She has been photographing the war in Ukraine since it started in 2014. An overview of this work was exhibited at Imperial War Museums in the UK in 2022. She won the 2023 Canon Female Photojournalism Grant at Visa pour L’Image for her ongoing, long-term work in the eastern Donbas region of the country. Taylor-Lind was the 2024 World Press Photo Contest Europe jury chair. Her monograph "Maidan: Portraits from the Black Square" documented the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine and was published by GOST books in 2014. Her first poetry collection "One Language" was published by Smith|Doorstop in 2022. Anastasia holds Master’s degrees in Documentary Photography and Poetry.