Margolin Masterclass featuring journalist and alumna Sara Castellanos

"What is journalism, and why does it matter?"

More than a third of young adults around the world rely on TikTok for news, with TikTok’s influence growing particularly quickly in the global South, according to the Reuters Digital News Report. Instagram and YouTube now outpace formal news organizations as the first places young adults often encounter news stories, even as most young adults report that they don’t trust the news they receive on social media. Some studies are also finding that close to half of young adults in the U.S. now actively avoid news.

Even if you’re not spending your time with news stories, it’s still worth thinking about whether or not news matters. Perhaps more aptly we could ask: for whom does news matter, and when does it matter? These questions take on particular importance during an election year. 

In this session, renowned journalist Sara Castellanos will lead an interactive discussion with students about her work in journalism: the professional work of collecting, preparing, vetting, and distributing news. Along with sharing her University of Denver experiences and her nearly 20-year career in news and storytelling, she’ll lead a discussion about what her team is working on, how WSJ and other news organizations are reporting on issues of concern for readers, and why what we do with the information we consume may matter more than we think.

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About Sara Castellanos

Sara Castellanos (’09) is News Editor on The Wall Street Journal’s Live Journalism team in New York City, where she plans topics of conversation for news interviews at marquee WSJ events. She was previously a reporter for WSJ, covering emerging technologies such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence. She began her journalism career as a news and features reporter with the Aurora Sentinel and Aurora Magazine, focusing on city council and state politics.

She won awards for her coverage of topics including the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. Sara was also a reporter and editor at the Boston Business Journal, where she covered startups and venture capital. At the University of Denver, she served as managing editor of The Clarion, DU’s student newspaper, and earned her degrees in journalism studies, business, and international studies. She is originally from Colorado and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

About the Morton L. Margolin Distinguished Lecture

This annual series is provided in honor of renowned Colorado business journalist Morton Margolin. During his distinguished 35-year career with the Rocky Mountain News and the Colorado Business Magazine, Margolin received many awards, including a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize.