CHAPEL HILL, NC (September 17, 2025) – The nonprofit Youth Journalism International will host a panel discussion with four prominent North Carolina journalists at 7 p.m., Oct. 2, at the Varsity Theater, 123 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $10 to support YJI’s mission of global press freedom.
Listen to an audio recording of this article:
From political attacks on the media to the emergence of AI, journalists face challenges from all angles. YJI student moderators Sreehitha Gandluri and Dorothy Quanteh will probe the state’s leading journalists on the newsmaking struggles of today and tomorrow.
“We’re so excited to present these incredible journalists and eager to hear what they have to say,” said Jackie Majerus, executive director of YJI.
North Carolina’s leading journalists share how they tackle today’s toughest challenges — and their vision for the future of news.
The event will be hosted by Joe Killian, Greensboro editor of The Assembly and YJI alum. UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore and YJI Senior Correspondent Sreehitha Gandluri and YJI Reporter Dorothy Quanteh of Maryland will moderate and take questions from the audience.
Panelists
Bill Adair is the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism & Public Policy at Duke University. The creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact, Adair has been recognized as a leader in fact-checking and digital media.
He worked for 24 years as a reporter and editor for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) and served as the paper’s Washington bureau chief from 2004 to 2013.
Bervette Carree is vice president of News at ABC11/WTVD, serving the Triangle area. In an award-winning broadcast career spanning more than 20 years, she has worked at Fox 8 in the Triad, WRAL in Raleigh, NBC News, CNN and The Poynter Institute.
She works to create impactful and enterprising content strategies to connect with diverse communities across multi-platforms.
John Drescher is senior editor at The Assembly, a statewide digital magazine.
He previously served as deputy editor of The Washington Post’s political investigations team; executive editor of The News & Observer; managing editor of The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C.; and as a reporter and editor for The Charlotte Observer.
Erin Siegal McIntyre is an investigative journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Univision and Latino USA.
Her award-winning book Finding Fernanda exposed networks of organized crime and corrupt practices in international adoption between Guatemala and the United States. It was the basis for an Emmy-winning CBS Special Investigation. She has taught journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill since 2020.
Event host Joe Killian
Joe Killian is Greensboro, North Carolina Editor with The Assembly, a statewide digital magazine that has garnered dozens of state and national awards. He has been a reporter and editor in North Carolina for more than 20 years, including a decade covering cops, courts, government and politics with the News & Record in Greensboro.
Before joining The Assembly, he spent eight years as Senior Investigative Reporter with N.C. Policy Watch and N.C. Newsline in Raleigh, covering state government and higher education. He is an alum of Youth Journalism International.
YJI student moderators
Youth Journalism International Senior Correspondent Sreehitha (Sarah) Gandluri of Maryland is a second-year Honors Carolina Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in Political Science and Global Studies.
A student reporter of Youth Journalism International since 2020, Sreehitha currently serves as a student representative on the organization’s Board of Directors. She has taken part in YJI global conferences in Istanbul and Mexico City. She has also published work in local and national newspapers in the United States, including USA Today and the Washington Blade.
Youth Journalism International Reporter Dorothy Quanteh is a journalist, artist, and environmentalist from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. She has written for The Borgen Project, The Teen Magazine, and The Washington Association of Black Journalists where she covered topics ranging from anti-counterfeit medicine technology, TikTok’s effect on Gen Z, and more.
She is an alum of the Asian American Journalists Association’s Jcamp, where she was honored with a scholarship for national excellence in journalism. As a high school senior, she was selected for the 2025 Politico Journalism Institute. She is taking a gap year to complete service in the greater Washington, DC area before attending college next fall.
