Bay News Rising hopes to introduce labor reporting to students — and provide a source of ongoing training, networking, mentoring and publishing for student journalists collaborating for the future of Bay Area journalism. To see more about the program, visit here.
Kat Anderson
BNR Project Director/Founder
Kat Anderson is a labor and employment attorney as well as Administrative Officer of Pacific Media Workers Guild. Formerly, she was a member of the Guild Freelancers. Ms. Anderson graduated with a degree in political science from Stanford University and obtained her law degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law. She worked in private practice for most of her legal career. In 2010, Ms. Anderson ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and she continues to serve her community as a volunteer on several boards including the board auxiliary of City College of San Francisco.
Her philanthropy at the colleges has given her the unique opportunity to meet with journalism department heads and students, sparking the idea of setting up a summer program for journalism students.
Rebecca Rosen Lum
BNR Editor-in-Chief
Rebecca Rosen Lum is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco. After graduating from SFSU, she interned at the Center for Investigative Reporting, where she covered the Northern California timber wars and other stories. She reported on demographics, culture and the census for the Marin Independent-Journal. She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of Richmond for the Contra Costa Times, and won two John Swett awards for her education reporting. Most recently, she wrote about faith and culture for the Times. She chairs the CWA’s first guild unit for freelance journalists and is webmaster at GuildFreelancers.org.
Carl Hall
BNR Project Advisor
Carl T. Hall is a longtime journalist and union organizer. He serves as Executive Officer of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. He worked as a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1987 until 2007. Hall has been an active organizer, member and officer of unions throughout his working career. He was lead organizer of a successful organizing campaign at his first newspaper, The Rutland Herald.
In 1993, Hall went on leave from the Chronicle news staff to serve as lead organizer during 1993-1994 contract negotiations, which culminated in a strike in November 1994. The 11-day work stoppage by the Conference of Newspaper Unions is regarded as one of the most successful strikes in the history of the Guild, producing long-term contracts for more than 2,200 union members. The strike included creation of the San Francisco Free Press, whose internet editions were the first online strike publication by any union.
Joe Fitzgerald
Student Advisor
Joe Fitzgerald is a born and bred San Franciscan who found a way to protect his beloved city through reporting. He’s written for City College of San Francisco’s The Guardsman, San Francisco State’s Golden Gate Xpress, Fog City Journal, El Tecolote, The Sacramento Valley Labor Bulletin, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, and The New York Times Student Journalism Institute. His role in the summer program as student advisor is to serve as a voice for student needs, and provide the student perspective in structuring the workshops.
When he’s not reporting, he’s teaching; Fitzgerald is in his eighth year as an Artist-in-Residence at San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa School of the Arts High School, giving post-production video workshops in their Media department.
