UN Journalism Fellows Urge St. John’s Students to Focus on Impactful Storytelling

United by a belief in the power of storytelling, St. John’s University students engaged in an enthusiastic discussion with United Nations (UN) 2025 Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship members in a virtual conference on September 22.

Michael A. Rizzo ’89MBA, Associate Professor and Director of the Journalism program at The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies, directed the panel discussion, which featured journalists from across the developing world, including Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and South America. The 18 journalists shared insights with about 50 St. John’s students on the role of journalists in parts of the world where press freedoms are not absolute and artificial intelligence (AI) threatens industry values.  

“Why did I become a journalist?” asked Paula Medina, a contributor to El Pais (The Country), a daily newspaper in Cali, Colombia. “I care about people, but not many people seem to care about a country like Colombia.”

“I thought about what abilities I could bring to inspire an interest in caring for others,” Ms. Medina continued. “Through storytelling, I wanted to show that I cared.”

The September 22 roundtable marked the third consecutive year the UN journalism fellows met with the St. John’s audience. Professor Rizzo, whose classes include Applying Journalistic Principles and Skills, The Craft of Interviewing, Feature Reporting and Writing, and Sports Broadcasting, brought the cohort together to illustrate for his students how modern journalists do their jobs.  

According to the panelists, modern journalists are multiplatform storytellers, who can produce audio, photographic, visual, and written content to audiences consuming information in nontraditional ways.

“You have to stay curious and be willing to learn more about emerging platforms,” said Hellen Shikanda, a multimedia journalist for Nation Media Group in Kenya. “You cannot stick to, say, print journalism only. Experiment in social media or broadcasting. You need to learn something beyond traditional journalism, whether that is about data journalism or AI.”

The UN fellowships offer the journalists, who range in age from 22 to 35, an opportunity to report on events at the United Nations for several weeks each fall, coinciding with the opening of the UN General Assembly. The fellowships are named in honor of Reham Al-Farra, a 29-year-old Jordanian public information officer who was killed in the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.

Since the program’s founding in 1981, the fellowship has recognized more than 670 journalists from 168 countries. Once their time at the UN is complete, the journalists are expected to continue working in the industry, enhancing the quality of journalism in their home countries.

The University was delighted to welcome the panelists.

“We are honored to have you participate today with our students,” Professor Rizzo said. “Journalism is facing challenges, but there are still opportunities in the field. Opportunities are there for us to give the world the information it needs, and to uphold the standards of good journalism that will make people want to trust us in the United States and elsewhere.”

Among the challenges facing the industry is the spread of misinformation through social media platforms from influencers who often lack the ethical and professional training of the UN fellows.

“We live in a post-truth world, it seems,” observed Sofiane Alsaar, from Yemen, who works for Agence France-Presse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “We see political leaders and others spreading fake news or dealing with the truth in a different way. We need to find new ways to engage with the audience, do more fact checking, and be pedagogical about our method of researching.”

Some of the journalists warned that AI can increase the spread of disinformation by using deepfake photos and videos. It can also compromise journalistic skills by overreliance on automated tools while perpetuating biases embedded in algorithms. That can all lead to an erosion of public trust, which threatens the industry and those who work in it.  

“So-called fake news moves the standard for the actual news,” said Innocent Kiiza, an investigative reporter for Rwenzori Daily in Uganda. “It is hard for the public to automatically trust the journalist. When influencers have more social media followers than the large, established media companies, news that comes from AI can spread faster than actual news.”

What advice would the panelists give aspiring journalists, including those at St. John’s?

“Know your audience. Who are you talking to, and who are you marketing your story to? When we realized that not many people read full stories anymore, we decided to do more Instagram and TikTok stories,” said Dilara Hamit, who works for the news agency Anadolu Ajansi, based in Ankara, Turkey. “Otherwise, I would say it is trial and error. Try, and if you fail, keep trying.”