Erika Dilday, executive director of American Documentary, is working as co-director and co-producer on a new nonfiction film also led by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon.
Emancipation to Exodus (w.t.) will focus on Black people in America from the Civil War to the Great Migration. The film, which is currently in production, is scheduled to air on PBS in 2027. Burns’ Florentine Films is producing the doc, and WETA in Washington, D.C., is station partner.
Dilday signed on to the project as an independent filmmaker. She will continue in her role as AmDoc’s executive director during production.
“Ken and his production teams have produced some of public television’s most memorable documentaries. As the documentary community looks to new models of collaboration, I’m excited to use my directing and producing talents on Emancipation to Exodus, to tackle what is one of the most central and yet misunderstood stories in our country’s history,” Dilday said in a news release.
“I’ve wanted to explore Reconstruction and the nadir that followed its collapse since we completed The Civil War in 1990. Sarah, Dave and I are thrilled to be working with Erika on this project,” said Burns in the news release.
Ron Gunzburger was hired as chief of staff for special projects at StoryCorps.
Gunzburger will work on One Small Step, an initiative that brings together people with different political views for recorded conversations. Each interview is being archived at the Library of Congress.
Gunzburger, a Democrat, most recently served as senior advisor for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican. He previously worked as a public defender, a state racketeering prosecutor, and a partner for Eckert Seamans.
Management
Ghada Mashamoun announced on LinkedIn that she left her position as executive director for the office of WETA CEO Sharon Rockefeller. “I worked for the best leader one could ever ask for; one who has become a part of my extended family; beloved colleagues, managers, and mentors who have supported and challenged me to grow both personally and professionally. Above all, I am so proud to have served a mission I truly believed in,” Mashamoun said. She joined NewsHour as a production desk assistant in 2011 and started in her current role in 2021.
Content
Erin Keever was hired as an EP for WUNC in Chapel Hill, N.C. She will work on a new daily yet-to-be-named public affairs program that will be hosted by Leoneda Inge and Jeff Tiberii. Keever most recently worked as senior producer of Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins, a public affairs program produced by WFAE. Keever joined the station in 2006 as an intern and later worked as a researcher, production assistant and producer. “It’s been a joy and a privilege to work with many extraordinarily talented colleagues over the past 16 years. I will miss y’all greatly,” she said on Twitter.
Corrinne Hess announced on Twitter that she rejoined Wisconsin Public Radio as a reporter covering primarily politics and statewide K-12 education. Hess most recently worked as a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and worked for the public radio station from late 2018 to early 2022.
Adeshina Emmanuel is leaving his position as managing editor of the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting at Louisville Public Media to become managing editor of local for Capital B, a nonprofit newsroom led by Black journalists. He joined the public media newsroom last year after working as editor-in-chief of Injustice Watch, an investigative newsroom in Chicago. Last year, he was a fellow for the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia University’s journalism school.
Christina Le was named podcast host for Refugee’s Daughter, a program produced by PBS Reno in Nevada that focuses on people of Chinese heritage. The first of eight episodes debuted Friday. Le joined the public television station in 2014 as a graphic designer and was promoted to lead creative designer in 2020. Last year, she was selected to participate in the 2022 Digital Immersion Program offered by PBS. That wound up being “the launching point” for the new podcast, according to a news release.
Kevin Lavery, a general assignment reporter and occasional host of Morning Edition and All Things Considered for WKAR in East Lansing, Mich., is leaving the station. Lavery joined the station in 2006. He previously worked as a producer for St. Louis Public Radio and as a reporter for KMUW in Wichita, Kan.
Morgan Ayre, a producer for NPR, announced on Twitter that she’s leaving the network. Ayre, who joined NPR last year, was based in London. She previously worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC.
Gwynne Hogan left her position as a reporter for Gothamist, a news site owned by New York Public Radio, to become a reporter covering Brooklyn for The City, a nonprofit newsroom. She joined Gothamist in 2017 as an associate producer and has worked as a reporter since 2019. Jake Offenhartz also left his position as a reporter for Gothamist. He joined the newsroom in 2017.
Fellowships
Paige Pfleger, a criminal justice reporter for WPLN in Nashville, Tenn., was selected to partner with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. Pfleger will work on stories about Tennessee’s gun possession laws as part of a yearlong investigative fellowship. Pfleger joined the station in 2021.
Lauren Rosenthal, a senior reporter for American Public Media’s APM Reports, was chosen by the Columbia Journalism School in New York as a 2023–2024 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in economics and business journalism. The program supports mid-career journalists, who receive a stipend of $60,000. Rosenthal, who also hosts the podcast In Deep, joined APM in 2019.
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