Medill News Service Reporters

Kelsey Baker

Kelsey Baker is a graduate student in the Medill Investigative Lab focused on national security. She has a BA in History and an MA in Diplomacy, with a focus in international terrorism. She’s an Oklahoma native, and previously worked as an editorial intern at The Chronicle of the Horse magazine. She spent six years on active duty in the Marine Corps.

@kelsbbaker

Meaghan Downey

Meaghan Downey is a graduate student at Northwestern Medill in the Politics, Policy and Foreign Affairs specialization. Before her time at Medill, Meaghan graduated from Boston College with a BA in Political Science and worked in advertising sales for Warner Bros. Discovery.

@megdowney29

Andrew Zi-Qi Fang

Andrew Zi-Qi Fang is a Medill School of Journalism graduate student at Northwestern University. He is based in Washington DC, specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs. Andrew was an anchor and journalist for Taiwanese TV networks CTS and TVBS. He covered foreign affairs and military events, including Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei and Chinese PLA threats toward Taiwan. Andrew also produced broadcast stories on the ground covering the Turkish earthquake and the South African economy. His publication “Not Today” was selected for the 2022 Aesop Queer Library.

@AndrewZiQiFang

Esther Frances

Esther Frances is a graduate student at Northwestern University specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in the spring of 2023 and now covers the foreign affairs beat for Medill News Service. She has previously written for the Washington Blade and Montgomery Community Media.

@efrancesnews

Haajrah Gilani

Haajrah Gilani is a master’s student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in the Medill Investigative Lab. She has a B.A. in journalism from Temple University, where she specialized in print reporting and worked for multiple publications across campus. She cares about the intersection between crime and public policy, and she has written award-winning pieces like how a lack of education and development in Philadelphia contributed to increased participation of youth carjacking. She also interned with 6abc and The Buffalo News.

@haajrahgilani

Anastasia Mason

Anastasia Mason is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism specializing in policy, politics and foreign affairs. She graduated from Valparaiso University in 2023 with a BA in International Relations, Spanish and Global Service.

@AnastasiaCMason

Emma McNamee

Emma McNamee is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. A 2021 graduate of Columbia College’s journalism program, she previously worked as a reporter in southwest Minnesota covering politics, crime, courts, and city government. Now a Medill Investigative Lab student, her focus is on investigative news and politics.

@em_mcnamee

Nicole Norman

Nicole Norman is a graduate student at Medill in the Politics, Policy & Foreign Affairs specialization. She covers the politics beat for Medill News Service. Norman received a B.S. in Journalism from Loyola Marymount University in the spring of 2023 and has interned at news organizations such as NBC and CNN

@nicnorman16

Phillip Powell

Phillip Powell is a graduate student at Northwestern Medill specializing in the Investigative Lab program. He covers foreign affairs for the Medill News Service. He earned his B.A. from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas where he studied political science, wrote for the student magazine The Profile and worked as Editor-in-Chief of the literary magazine The Aonian.

@PhillipPow69236

Juliann Ventura

Juliann Ventura is a reporter for the Medill News Service covering social justice. She graduated from Butler University in 2022 with undergraduate degrees in international studies and criminology, and is now a graduate student specializing in the Medill Investigative Lab program. Before Medill, Juliann produced a story exposing workers’ and women’s rights violations, and conducted interviews with a Black Lives Matter co-founder and a member of the Exonerated Five, formerly known as the Central Park Five.

@juliann_ventura

Yiqing Wang

Yiqing Wang is a reporter for the Medill News Service covering immigration and a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill Investigative Lab. She was born and raised in Tangshan, China. She came to the U.S. after high school and has a B.A. in Political Science and French from Bryn Mawr College. Before Medill, she worked as a freelance writer at Global Foundation For Girls and interned at The Center For Emerging Visual Artists.

@yyqingg