Feb. 26, Investigative Journalism Symposium

Former Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron will headline the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism Symposium Feb. 26.

Baron will deliver the keynote address at 6 p.m. in Presidents Hall. His speech will conclude an afternoon-long symposium featuring award-winning journalists from the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, ESPN, The Athletic and WTHR.

Full schedule:

1 p.m.: Welcome

• Kathleen Johnston, Arnolt Center director

1:15 – 2:30 p.m.: “Off the Field: Exposing Truths in Sports”

• Mark Fainaru-Wada, ESPN
• Will Hobson, former Washington Post
• Carson Kessler, The Athletic
• Moderator: Mike Wells, Indiana University

2:45 – 4 p.m.: “Investing in Truth: How Innovation Keeps Investigative Journalism Alive”

• Nancy Lane, independent journalist
• Ron Nixon, AP
• Sona Patel, New York Times
• Moderator: Gerry Lanosga, Indiana University

4:15 – 5:30 p.m.: “Justice in Focus: Investigating Crime, Power, and Accountability”

• Susan Batt, WTHR
• Caren Bohan, independent journalist
• Jimmy Jenkins, Bloomberg News
• Moderator: Sara Sidner, CNN

6 – 7 p.m.: Keynote

• Marty Baron

The panels and keynote address are free and open to all students, faculty, staff, journalists and the general public, though people are asked to preregister:

The symposium is sponsored by the Scripps-Howard Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the Hoosier State Press Association Foundation, Free Press Indiana, the Indiana Citizen, the Indiana Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Indiana Broadcasters Association, Hutton Honors College and Gray Television and held in partnership with the Bloomington Press Club, Chalkbeat Indiana, Fox 59/ CBS 4, the Indiana Capital Chronicle, the Indiana Daily Student, IndyStar, the Indiana Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation, Limestone Post, the National Association of Black Journalists at Indiana University, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists at Indiana University, the National Sports Journalism Center, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, WTHR and The Media School at Indiana University.

Speaker bios:

Marty Baron

Martin (Marty) Baron retired at the end of February 2021, after eight-plus years as executive editor of The Washington Post. News staffs under his leadership have won 18 Pulitzer Prizes. The Post won 11 Pulitzers for coverage during his tenure that included the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and investigations of the National Security Agency and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. While he was top editor of The Boston Globe, it won six Pulitzer Prizes, including for its investigation into the Catholic Church’s concealment of clergy sex abuse. That coverage was portrayed in the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight.” His book, “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post” was released in October 2023. While the top editor of The Miami Herald, the paper won a Pulitzer for its breaking-news coverage of the raid in 2000 to recover Elián González, the Cuban boy at the center of a fierce custody dispute. He also has held senior editing positions at The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. 

Panelists:

Susan Batt

Susan Batt is an investigative and special projects producer at WTHR (NBC Indianapolis), where she collaborates with the award-winning 13 Investigates team to produce in-depth reporting across the station’s broadcast, streaming, and digital platforms. Her work spans a wide range of topics, including government accountability, nonprofit oversight, environmental issues, and consumer advocacy. She helped lead the station’s coverage of the Delphi trial. Susan is part of teams honored with two Peabody Awards in the same year, as well as an Alfred I. DuPont–Columbia University silver baton. Her reporting has earned additional recognition from the Gracie Awards, Investigative Reporters & Editors Awards, Headliner Awards, and regional Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Awards. Prior to joining WTHR, Batt served as Executive Producer of Call 6 for Help, WRTV’s long-running consumer unit in Indianapolis. She also worked with ABC News (Washington, D.C.) and KOMU (Columbia, Missouri.) 

Caren Bohan

Caren Bohan is a veteran newsroom leader and longtime White House reporter and editor. She was most recently editor-in-chief of USA TODAY, where she steered award-winning coverage and multimedia storytelling. During Caren’s tenure at USA TODAY, she shaped and led a documentary on Florida’s school board fights that won an Edward R. Murrow award. She was also a driving force behind Hurricane Helene coverage that earned a National Headliner Award for the USA TODAY Network. Caren covered the White House for Reuters for nine years during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidencies. She has interviewed both presidents and reported for Reuters from all around the world, including Russia, China and Afghanistan. She is a past president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Caren holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Montreal. 

Jimmy Jenkins

Jimmy Jenkins is a Legal Reporter covering the Department of Justice for Bloomberg News in Washington D.C. He previously reported on criminal justice issues for The Arizona Republic, after several years working at NPR stations in Phoenix and Bloomington. Jimmy is a graduate of the Media School’s M.S. program with a concentration in journalism, and a proud alum of the Indiana Daily Student, WFIU, and WTIU. He was born and raised in Terre Haute.

Mark Fainaru-Wada

Mark Fainaru-Wada has been an investigative reporter with ESPN since 2007. He is the co-author of two New York Times best-sellers, “League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth” (2013, Crown Archetype), and “Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal That Rocked Professional Sports” (2013, Gotham). “League of Denial,” written with Fainaru-Wada’s brother/colleague Steve Fainaru, won the 2014 PEN Award for Literary Sports Writing. The brothers, who reported dozens of exclusive stories on the topic for ESPN, also served as reporters and writers on a companion documentary for PBS’s award-winning program “Frontline.” The documentary earned the prestigious George Polk and Peabody awards. Fainaru-Wada’s work at ESPN has included an investigation that revealed a track coach who had been molested more than 60 boys and young men over five decades. The reporting, along with Mike Kessler and Greg Amante, led to the coach’s arrest in two separate jurisdictions and a prison sentence of more than 10 years. 

Will Hobson

Will Hobson is a national investigative sports reporter for The Washington Post. He has previously worked for the Tampa Bay Times, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, and the Panama City News Herald. In 2014, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in local reporting for his work on Tampa Bay Times stories about abusive landlords and squalid conditions in publicly subsidized housing for Tampa’s homeless. In 2019, his reporting on allegations of racist remarks and pressuring players to compete through injury by Hall of Fame coach Sylvia Hatchell preceded her decision to retire. From 2020-2022, his stories exposing pervasive sexual harassment within Washington’s NFL franchise, including an unreported settlement over allegations of sexual assault against owner Daniel Snyder, preceded Snyder’s decision to sell the team. His stories have also been honored by Investigative Reporters & Editors and Associated Press Sports Editors. Born in Miami, Hobson was raised outside Philadelphia, and is still an avid (some would say obnoxious) Phillies and Eagles fan.

Carson Kessler

Carson Kessler is a senior investigative writer at The Athletic based in New York City. Most recently, she led a major investigative series into the escalating problem of stalking and harassment in sports, revealing how these issues disproportionately affect female athletes and identifying dozens of new cases since 2020.  Before joining The Athletic, Kessler built a career in high-impact investigative journalism on a wide array of topics at The New York Times and ProPublica. Her 2024 New York Times investigation with Walt Bogdanich revealed that drug companies Eisai and Eli Lilly withheld critical genetic information from Alzheimer’s clinical trial participants that would have alerted them to a significantly higher risk of brain injury. This lack of disclosure resulted in several deaths and dozens of severe brain injuries. And in her July 2022 ProPublica investigation, Kessler uncovered how a non-profit cemetery on Long Island successfully navigated—and at times circumvented—New York’s strict cemetery regulations to turn a tax-exempt burial ground into a lucrative family business, generating millions in personal wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kessler is a graduate of New York University and Columbia Journalism School, and grew up in San Antonio, TX.

Nancy Lane

Nancy Lane has been building the future of news for more than three decades. From her start as a CNN desk intern to becoming the network’s head of newsgathering, she has worked on the front lines of journalism’s most significant moments and boldest transformations. She has helped cover the stories that defined a generation — Tiananmen Square, both Gulf Wars, both World Trade Center attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, presidential elections, and impeachments. Lane doesn’t just report the news — she reimagines how people experience it. At CBS News, she pioneered the industry’s first successful 24/7 streaming news service, CBSN, building it from the ground up. From editorial vision to studio design and daily operations, she created a blueprint that reshaped how millions consume news. She then scaled that model nationwide, launching 12 CBS News Local streaming services that brought innovative digital journalism to markets across the country. Today, Lane leads a creative hub where technology, investigative reporting, and storytelling meet—working with product teams, journalists, and filmmakers to shape what comes next. 

Ron Nixon

Ron Nixon is Director of the Associated Press Local Investigative Reporting Program.  Previously, he was AP’s Vice President for News, and head of Investigations, Enterprise, Partnerships and Grants. Nixon received the inaugural 2021 News Leader of the Year award from the News Leaders Association. He has overseen investigations that have won several awards, including the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, a George Polk award, three News and Documentary Emmys, three National Edward R Murrow Awards, and a George Foster Peabody Award and several other honors for investigative and international reporting.  Nixon previously led AP’s global investigations team. He is a co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society and author of the book “Selling Apartheid: South Africa’s Global Propaganda War.” Nixon has trained journalists around the world. Before the AP, he was a correspondent for the New York Times, reporting from over two dozen countries.  Nixon is a U.S. Marine Corps infantry veteran who saw combat in the 1990 Persian Gulf War and was part of the Marine Corps security forces battalion, the Corps security and counterterrorism unit. 

Sona Patel

Sona Patel is the Program and Editorial Director of the Local Investigations Fellowship at The New York Times. She started her career as a beat reporter for The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune where she covered one of the largest municipal bankruptcies in state history. She was the first Social Media editor at The Seattle Times and was part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2010. In 2012 she joined The New York Times as an editor on the Audience team. As director of the fellowship, she edits investigative work and oversees recruiting for the one-year program, which is aimed at developing the next generation of investigative reporters. In 2025, the fellowship, in collaboration with The Baltimore Banner, won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2025 for an investigation into the city’s opioid crisis. In 2024, Local Investigations was a finalist for Local Reporting for a project done in collaboration with Mississippi Today that examined corruption and abuse by sheriffs.