It’s time for members to vote in San Diego SPJ’s board elections!
Voting opens today, June 14, 2024, and will close on June 25, 2024. All current members of the San Diego SPJ chapter are eligible to vote and will have a ballot sent to their email. Please read the statements below from our board candidates and consider who you would like to represent our chapter on the Board of Directors for the term beginning July 1, 2024.
Please email spjsandiego@gmail.com if you are a member and did not receive a ballot.
Wendy Fry
I’m an investigative reporter at CalMatters, covering inequality. A graduate of San Diego State, I’ve worked as a full-time reporter since about 2009, including at KPBS, the San Diego Union-Tribune and NBC7. I would like to continue giving back to our journalism community and continue my role on the board to advocate for local journalists. I’m excited to be a part of programs, events and trainings that benefit San Diego journalists by helping them advance their skills and network or just find support in our challenging industry.
Dorian Hargrove
My name is Dorian Hargrove. I have been a journalist in San Diego for more than 15 years. During that time, I watched San Diego’s media landscape change many times over, from the rise of non-profit organizations to the numerous ownership changes at the UT. I too have changed my journalism focus, from print to TV news. Since my time as a journalist, I have watched our industry take one hit after another, on a national level as well as on a local level. That is why I want to get involved with SPJ. We, as journalists, need to be united to ensure we can continue to hold public agencies and public officials accountable, as well as inspire new journalists to further the work that we and so many others have done.
Tianrui Huang
My name is Tianrui Huang, a recent graduate from UC San Diego, and I am running for the SPJ San Diego board to further contribute to student journalism outreach and support job seekers, especially those from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. Coming from a prestigious public school that does not offer a journalism degree, I have experienced firsthand the struggles of aspiring student journalists who lack adequate resources and guidance. At my school, many student journalists do not receive systematic training in news writing, pitching, interviewing, or data analysis. Despite occasional workshops offered by the local SPJ chapter, these resources often fail to reach students due to a lack of connection between the student body and available opportunities.
As a member of College Outreach Committee and Student Trustee Council, I realize these challenges often go unnoticed by full-time journalists and industry leaders, highlighting the importance of including students’ voices in the decision-making process. As SPJ is currently in a transitioning phase, it is crucial to ensure that students are not left out, especially those from diverse backgrounds. This period of change presents an ideal opportunity to integrate students’ perspectives and needs into the organization. By serving on the board, I aim to bridge the gap between student journalists and the resources they need, ensuring they are supported and heard within the SPJ community.
Chris Jennewein
I’m writing to express my interest in joining the San Diego SPJ board. I served for several years nearly two decades ago while at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Since then, I’ve been involved in a number of Internet startups, and I’m interested in supporting local journalism in the new online environment.
Philip Salata
My name is Philip Salata, I cover environment and energy at inewsource. My position is also a bit peculiar, as it is funded through a state program administered through the UC Berkeley journalism school, and lasts until September 2025.
I came to journalism later in life, something I am both thankful for and only regret in so far as I feel there is no time to lose. I feel the burn to dive deeply into this work with the hopes of creating impactful, thoughtful and intimate journalism that addresses complex problems in lucid ways.
I am running to serve on the board of San Diego SPJ because I want to be at the table of discussions about the craft we are all reshaping in a quickly changing media landscape.
I am from San Diego. I was born here to a family of Polish immigrants shortly after they came to California seeking asylum. I also left the U.S. for many years. Having left, and come back, as well as having grown up in a family of immigrants has informed my way of relating to my home town. I have always been drawn to dig into the complexities of borderlands.
As an SPJ member I would advocate for constantly honing our profession to the developing needs of our community. I believe that our work should serve more than just those who read our work presently, and that it behooves us to keep forging relationships and conversations that push us in what we do.
Jamie Self
I’m the managing editor of inewsource. I’m running for the San Diego SPJ board to support our region’s journalists, push for access to public information and promote journalism as a vital public service that empowers the communities we serve. Three years ago, I moved here from Columbia, S.C., where I was the politics and state government editor for The State newspaper. Since my move, I’ve come to have a deep respect for the exceptional journalists working here. I’d like the opportunity to serve my colleagues in continuing the vital services San Diego SPJ provides.
Marinee Zavala
My name is Marinee Zavala, I’ve been a news reporter in the Baja-San Diego region since 2012, almost 14 years so far. I have a bachelor’s degree in communications and a MBA. I also won an Emmy in 2019.
I mostly do TV news, but I’ve worked in newspapers too. I was on TV stations in the Baja Region from 2012 to 2016, and from 2016 to 2018 I was a correspondent in San Diego for Televisa. Right now I work as a TV news anchor for Telemundo San Diego and also MMJ on the weekdays. Being a journalist, I believe it’s the best job ever, and doing it in this chaotic but beautiful border region, it’s one of the biggest gifts in the world.
I would love to be in the board, to know more about the necessities of the journalists in San Diego, but also to connect more with them. Since 2018 to 2022, I was correspondent in Tijuana for Telemundo, so I was able to connect with the feeling of the journalists over there, and now I would love to give my perspective of this amazing bicultural community to the board and how the journalism it’s seeing in both sides of our border.
San Diego Society of Professional Journalists 