Bruins Breaking News: Inside Careers in Journalism

Like so many industries, the field of journalism is constantly evolving to serve a 21st-century audience. Hear from alumni whose professional experiences range from writing and editing to data visualization and audio reporting.

Panelists 

Aida Ylanan | Reporter LA Times   Aida is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. She works on the Data and Graphics desk, where she specializes in data-driven reporting and visual storytelling. Her work has examined the midterm elections, COVID-19 pandemic, police accountability and pop culture. Aida graduated from UCLA in 2018 with a degree in statistics and a minor in English.

Lenika Cruz | Senior Editor The Atlantic   Lenika Cruz is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where she has been a staffer on the culture section since 2014. She is the author of the forthcoming book On BTS: Pop Music, Fandom, Sincerity. She has edited a Pulitzer Prize finalist essay, James Beard Award–nominated pieces, and stories included in anthologies such as Best Food Writing. In addition to The Atlantic, her essays, reporting, and criticism have appeared in L.A. Weekly, Glamour, The Rumpus, East Bay Express, and Guam’s Pacific Daily News. She is an alumna of the 2022 Tin House Summer Workshop. Lenika has spoken about race, culture, and media for the Asian American Journalists Association Pacific Islander task force, the Asian American Writers Workshop, the Washington National Cathedral, and Pomona College’s Humanities Studio. She has been a guest on NPR’s Code Switch and Pop Culture Happy Hour, Blank Check, KPCC, and other radio shows. She is a volunteer contributing editor for the Washington, D.C. street newspaper Street Sense. She graduated from UCLA in 2012 with a B.A. in English.

Moderator 

Libby Lewis | Ph.D Affrican Diaspora Studies   As an Institute of American Cultures Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient with the Ralph Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA in 2009, she continued her research on the television news media. Her current work-in-progress is a book entitled The Myth of Post-racialism in Television News, which is under contract with Routledge Press. The book examines how Black television news journalists negotiate race, gender, and sexuality in a corporate newsroom culture and is informed by her experience as a television news anchor/reporter for CBS and NBC. Her teaching reflects several areas of expertise including: Media Studies, Critical Race Theory, Cultural Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, African Diaspora Studies, Ethnic Studies, American Studies, Qualitative Research Methods, and Journalism.

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