Jamila Bey

Jamila Bey is an Edward R. Murrow Award–winning journalist, editor, lecturer and media executive with more than two decades of experience across public media, broadcast, digital news, podcasts, newsletters, live events and civic engagement. Most recently, she served as Editorial Director of WHYY News, where she led a 50-person, multiplatform newsroom and strengthened editorial systems, talent development and enterprise reporting. Her career includes senior and producing roles with NPR, Al Jazeera America, BET Digital and The Washington Informer, including work on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

Bey is an expert on the First Amendment, journalism ethics, press freedom and the responsibilities of news organizations in a democratic society. As a lecturer, trainer and frequent public speaker, she teaches journalists, students, lawmakers and civic leaders about ethical decision-making, editorial judgment, effective public communication, newsroom leadership and narrative power. She has trained elected officials through national leadership and civic organizations, helping them communicate with greater clarity, authority and impact.

She is the founder of the Aincora LePear Institute for Narrative Preservation, which protects and amplifies the stories of people and institutions too often excluded from the public record. Bey also serves on the boards of the National Press Club Journalism Institute and the National Negro Opera House and has trained writers and emerging leaders through organizations including the OpEd Project and the Aspen Institute.

Her work centers on strengthening media institutions, defending independent journalism, developing the next generation of storytellers and expanding the ways journalism can serve communities and strengthen American democracy.