Campus Life

‘The Elections, the Media and the Donald’ focus of NPR correspondent’s lecture

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An author and NPR contributor who has been called one of the 50 most influential people in American media will present a free lecture titled “The Elections, the Media and the Donald: How We Missed the Story” in mid-March at Penn State’s University Park campus.

David Folkenflik, the media correspondent for NPR News, will visit campus to present the Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics at 7 p.m. March 16 in Kern Auditorium.

Based in New York City, Folkenflik’s stories and analyses are broadcast on the network’s newsmagazines, such as “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition” and “Here & Now,” and are featured on NPR’s website and mobile platforms. Folkenflik’s reports cast light on timely stories, the figures who shape journalism and the tectonic shifts affecting the news industry. 

A four-time winner of the Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism from the National Press Club, Folkenflik has received numerous other recognitions, including the inaugural Mongerson Award for Investigative Reporting on the News and top honors from the National Headliners Club and the Society of Professional Journalists. Business Insider has called Folkenflik one of the 50 most influential people in American media.

Folkenflik is the author of “Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires.” He is also editor of “Page One: Inside the New York Times and the Future of Journalism.” His work has appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, Politico Magazine, Newsweek International, the National Post of Canada, and the Australian Financial Review. He often appears as a media analyst for television and radio programs in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and Ireland. 

Folkenflik joined NPR in 2004 after more than a decade at the Baltimore Sun, where he covered higher education, national politics and the media. He started his professional career at the Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun. 

Folkenflik served as editor-in-chief at the Cornell Daily Sun and graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in history. He was the first Irik Sevin Visiting Fellow at Cornell and speaks frequently across the country. Folkenflik lives with his wife and children in New York City. 

The Dr. N.N. Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics is supported by an endowment from Margaret L. Oweida in memory of her husband, the late Dr. N.N. Oweida, a surgeon from New Kensington, Pennsylvania.

David Folkenflik Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated June 2, 2021