Ani Freedman, award-winning journalist

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anifreedmanpress@gmail.com

After graduating from Columbia Journalism School in New York, NY, earning a Master of Science in May 2023, I began freelancing for the local nonprofit InDepthNH.org. There, I won two awards for my reporting: the New Hampshire Press Association Rookie of the Year Award, and the Institute for Nonprofit News Community Champion Award (INNY) for my investigation into PFAS pollution in New Hampshire.

From there, I went on to become a fellow on the Well team at Fortune Magazine, where my stories helped readers take control of their health through in-depth science-based reporting.

I hold a deep passion for both journalism and photography, with interests in reporting on health, the environment, women’s issues, and immigration. In my reporting, I look to engage with local communities to report their perspectives or lived experiences wherever I am, forging meaningful connections in the process that inform intimate, honest reporting. With my Spanish-speaking skills, I try to cross cultural and language barriers to understand and learn from traditionally underserved communities.

I earned a Master of Science from Columbia Journalism School, where I focused on health and environmental reporting, the coverage of the Colombian and Latinx people in Queens, the chronic air pollution issues in the South Bronx, and how eating disorders develop through sociocultural and media influences. For my Master’s Thesis, I unveiled the the harmful normalization of disordered eating and exercise behaviors that mirror life-threatening eating disorders in women of all ages, perpetuated by diet culture, weight-loss companies, and medical professionals.

As I continue my journalism career, I hope to collaborate with local newsrooms in both daily reporting and in-depth investigative pieces. I find it important to hold influential institutions accountable while giving space for the narratives of everyday people. Local journalism is where we report the stories that communities need––uncovering the stories that lead to change on small scales, all the way to national legislation. I hope to initiate such change with my future colleagues, whether reporting on health, the environment, or any other pertinent issue to the community in which I find myself.

I was born in Albany, NY, and attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges where I completed Bachelor’s degrees in Writing and Rhetoric and Spanish and Hispanic Studies, graduating summa cum laude with honors. There, I completed an honors thesis about the lives of rural and migrant workers in the Finger Lakes and their families, through exhaustive research and reporting in both Spanish and English.