Suzanne McBride

Dean of Faculty Affairs

Suzanne McBride recommends five journalists to follow on Twitter.

Social media has shifted the journalism status quo, allowing media professionals to share news outside of their traditional outlets. According to award-winning journalist Suzanne McBride, Dean of Faculty Affairs at Columbia College Chicago, some of the best modern storytelling occurs on Twitter.

“You cannot be a journalist today without being on and engaging with social media,” says McBride, who has incorporated Twitter into her curriculum since its inception more than a decade ago. Here, McBride shares her picks for five innovative and unique journalists you should follow right now.

  1. Jim DeRogatis (@JimDeRogatis) – The Chicago-based writer is a contributor at WBEZ.org, an associate professor at Columbia College Chicago, and co-host of the popular music podcast Sound Opinions. “He’s definitely someone to keep your eye on,” McBride says of DeRogatis, whose BuzzFeed articles about singer R. Kelly’s allegedly abusive relationships went viral.
  2. Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) – Haberman is a White House correspondent for The New York Times and an analyst at CNN. “She’s often the first to know about something,” says McBride of Haberman, who both reports news and retweets with a breakneck frequency.
  3. Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) – “He’s so funny,” says McBride of Huppke, a popular columnist for The Chicago Tribune. “There are so many serious things happening, so many important issues that we need to stay on top of. He speaks to those issues, but he does it in a humorous way. I find him a refreshing presence.”
  4. Tracie Powell (@TMPowell) – Powell is on the board of directors for LION–the Local Independent Online News Publishers association–and is a senior fellow at the Democracy Fund. “Tracie runs a very vibrant space,” says McBride, noting how, as a woman of color, Powell has a distinct perspective on the media industry.
  5. Jackie Spinner (@jackiespinner) – Spinner is an associate professor at Columbia College Chicago and a former war reporter for The Washington Post, where she covered the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Her tweets mix the personal and political, with an emphasis on media’s evolution. “When anything is happening in the world of journalism, she is out there analyzing and interpreting it for us,” says McBride.