New York Press Club’s 2025 Conference on Journalism, hosted on Nov. 1 at Fordham University, brought in various prominent reporters, editors and educators to address the mounting challenges facing the profession, from political hostility to the disruptive rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
The annual event, held in partnership with Fordham’s Department of Communication and Media Studies, featured journalists from The New York Times, The City, WNYC and the New York Post.
Students from Columbia University, the New York University (NYU), the City University of New York (CUNY) and also Fordham University, which included members of The Fordham Ram and The Observer, filled Constantino Hall at Lincoln Center for a full day of panels, workshops and a keynote conversation.
Fordham’s presence was central throughout the day. Robin Shannon, WFUV’s director of News and Public Affairs, moderated a session on how to cover protests safely. George Bodarky, a longtime WFUV news director now with National Public Radio’s (NPR) Training Team, led a discussion on AI’s role in journalism. Jason Frazer, an adjunct professor at Fordham, moderated a panel on climate coverage.
Each session was aimed to connect students with working journalists and underscored Fordham’s reputation as a pipeline for public-interest media.
The keynote conversation paired Guardian U.S. columnist and former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan with The Wrap media editor Michael Calderone. Both warned that political intimidation and corporate consolidation are threatening the independence of the American press.
Sullivan pointed to the Trump administration’s restrictions on Pentagon reporting, describing them as “part of a broader attempt to control the message.” Calderone added that journalists have had access to the Pentagon since the 1940s, and also that limiting their presence replaces watchdogs with propagandists.
“What’s happened at the Pentagon is that the people who went along with this restrictive approach have essentially become propaganda outlets,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan criticized what she called “a climate of fear” among some major outlets, pointing to CBS News’ decision to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump rather than fight it.
“It sends the worst possible message, that access and profit come before truth,” she said.
Sullivan also had warned that the newsroom layoffs as well as the corporate mergers have been eroding editorial independence. Both speakers said the next generation of journalists will have to balance professional ethics with financial survival.
“Stay close to your mission,” Sullivan told students. “Know why you’re doing this work.”
In a morning plenary discussion, Jeff Jarvis, professor emeritus at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, led a discussion on press freedom and credibility with New York Times investigations editor David Enrich, media lawyer George Freeman and Montclair State professor Carrie Brown.
Freeman did warn that escalating threats of litigation and government retaliation are discouraging smaller outlets from going and pursuing investigative reporting.
“If small-town papers stop covering their councils out of fear of lawsuits, the value of the press is denuded,” he said.
He emphasized the urgency of rebuilding public trust, citing new Pew Research Center data showing Democrats’ confidence in the media at its lowest point ever recorded.
“Defending democracy means listening,” she said. “We have to meet people where they are, even if that’s not on our platforms.”
Enrich said journalists should respond to distrust through transparency rather than ideology.
“Our job isn’t to arrive with answers. It’s to ask better questions and show how we got to the truth,” he said.
Jarvis countered that the press must not fear moral clarity. “I argue that we need to stop being scared of labels like fascism and authoritarianism,” he said.
Another major discussion centered on the growing influence of AI in newsrooms. In a panel moderated by Bodarky, New York Times Associate Editorial Director of AI Initiatives Rubina Madan Fillion, CalMatters Chief Impact Officer Sisi Wei and Columbia University Professor Jonathan Soma outlined how technology is reshaping reporting practices.
Fillion said the New York Times permits AI to assist with data analysis, transcription or headline generation but not to write articles.
“If an AI tool gets something wrong, it’s our correction, not the machine’s,” she said.
Wei, who had helped negotiate one of the first newsroom union contracts with AI language, said her organization bans any use of generative AI that replaces a real human journalist.
Soma also warned that overreliance on AI risks homogenizing journalism.
“If everyone uses it to write, we all end up sounding the same,” he said.
All speakers agreed that reporters will soon be expected to understand AI tools the way earlier generations learned digital editing or search.
For students, the sessions offered a roadmap. Speakers encouraged them to build curiosity, transparency and resilience in a media landscape marked by shrinking budgets and expanding technological power.
As the day concluded, Freeman reminded students that the work of journalism remains essential even when its influence is questioned.
“We can write all the truth we want,” he said. “But if people don’t believe us, we’re not getting very far.”
For the students filling Constantino Hall, the presented challenge of restoring public trust in facts was a call to action from the industry veterans they saw on the stage.