The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Fresh Take Florida student investigative news service focuses on in-depth stories that scrutinize the actions of public officials in Florida to hold them accountable. The efforts of these student journalists, including Silas Morgan, B.S. Journalism 2023, and Karina Elwood, B.S. Journalism 2021, are profiled in “Meet the Student Journalists Who Report on Florida’s Most Influential and Powerful Elected Officials” published on poynter.org on July 15.

“They’re legit. They know what they’re doing, and, frankly, they’re doing the kind of digging and comprehensive work that the rest of us ought to be doing,” said Ted Bridis, UFCJC Michael and Linda Connelly Senior Lecturer in Investigative Reporting who oversees the Fresh Take Florida program . “Shame on us professionals for not following this stuff up.”

Morgan, now a reporter at the Orlando Sentinel, reviewed campaign filings, financial reports, property listings and voter registration records to report that state Rep. Bruce Antone, D-Orlando, had listed his home on official paperwork in District 40, not District 41, where he had been elected to serve.

Washington Post education reporter Karina Elwood, B.S. Journalism 2021, said she learned how to report on the political process and the sausage-making of the state’s laws for her Fresh Take Florida stories.

“It was one of the greatest training grounds that I had in college” Elwood said.

Morgan adds, “We have the enthusiasm and the energy and the zeal. And (Bridis) has the wisdom. He is teaching us how to think and know what to look for, so that when we graduate, we can do this on our own.”

Posted: July 16, 2024
Category: College News, Student News
Tagged as: Fresh Take Florida, Karina Elwood, Silas Morgan, Ted Bridis