Emma Jacobs (Photo credit:Nat Hamilton/WHYY)
National Public Radio and the John Alexander Project have chosen Emma Jacobs as the fifth recipient of the Above the Fray Fellowship.
The joint international reporting initiative annually sends a journalist abroad for three months to report on significant but under-covered issues in areas that get less attention from the mainstream media.
Jacobs will work in Réunion, an island just east of Madagascar, to cover issues surrounding a local conservation policy that has closed a marine reserve to fishing, which locals blame on shark attacks and who have been protesting the closure, saying it threatens their livelihoods.
In 2015, Jacobs will file reports on the balance between physical safety and ecological and economical security on air and online for NPR.
Tamica Gilbert
Jacobs most recently worked for NPR member station WHYY(FM), in Philadelphia, focusing on regional issues surrounding government, the economy and immigration. She previously worked for Wired.com, where she developed a site focused on Haiti’s post-earthquake recovery efforts, and interned for StoryCorps and for WNYC(FM)’s Radiolab.
The Above the Fray Fellowship was founded in 2010 in memory of John Alexander, who passed away of sudden heart failure while on assignment for the “Koppel on Discovery” series in Chongqing, China.
In other new from the world of public radio, WUSF Public Media says Tamica Gilbert has been promoted to member services director. WUSF is associated with the University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla.
Gilbert will be responsible for developing annual strategies to raise funds through membership programs, as well as for managing all annual gifts up to $1,200 and oversee a staff of five.
She has been with WUSF for a decade, and previously worked as the office manager in the Office of Community Relations at University of South Florida, where she is an alumna.
