Influencer U: Teaching the Creator Landscape

Summer 2026 Webinar for Journalism and Media Educators

Presented by the Center for Scholastic Journalism and Trusting News, NSPA and Quill & Scroll

Session 1 

What is a creator journalist? And why we should be paying attention

Liz Kelly Nelson, Project C and The Independent Journalism Atlas

Session 2 

Rise of independent journalists: Q&A with creators Levi Ismail and Chelsea Cox

Levi Ismail, Creator and NewsChannel5 journalist, Chelsea Cox, Content creator journalist

Session 3 

How content creators are earning audience attention and trust

Mollie Muchna, Trusting News

Session 4 

Building creator-newsroom partnerships that work

Marlene Harris-Taylor, American Press Institute

Session 5

The ethics and law of creator-style journalism

Lynn Walsh, Trusting News and Jonathan Gaston-Falk, Student Press Law Center

Session 6

From newsroom to video creator: Transitioning into creator-style storytelling 

Sophia Smith Galer, Creator journalist and author

Session 7

How creators can help people avoid news burnout: Q&A with Matt Kiser

Matt Kiser, WTF Just Happened Today and Ashlyn Lipori-Russie, Ask Ashlyn

Session 8

Fighting misinformation and teaching news literacy with vertical video

Alexa Volland, News Literacy Project

Session 9

Taking what you’ve learned back into the classroom

Erin Schneider/ Educational Media Consultant and Journalism Adviser

Learn about the 2025 Influencer U for Journalism Educators