Season 17
duPont-Columbia Awards
CNN's Jake Tapper with Dean Jelani Cobb

“The incentive structures in the worlds of politics and news media… are geared towards division and not just division, but demonizing people.  And it's very dangerous. It has already resulted in loss of life.”

-CNN’s Jake Tapper

Jake Tapper is the CNN Chief Washington Correspondent, anchor of The Lead with Jake Tapper, and co-host of the Sunday morning public affairs program State of the Union. In 2023, he was part of the team that won a duPont-Columbia award for their coverage of the conflict in Ukraine. He also hosted the awards at Columbia University in 2018.

In this episode, Tapper sits down with Columbia Journalism School’s Dean Jelani Cobb to reminisce about their longstanding friendship and talk about the extraordinary state of American politics. including how journalists should report on figures like Trump. 


Season 16
duPont-Columbia Awards
“Navalny”: Daniel Roher’s Real Life Political ...

“People are often surprised when they watch the film and they realize that it's sort of a dark comedy. It's a funny movie. He's a funny guy.”

“Navalny” follows Alexei Navalny, his team and his family as he investigates his own poisoning, and heads back to Russia to meet his fate. Director Daniel Roher explains how he built a relationship with Russia’s most prominent opposition leader.

Season 5
duPont-Columbia Awards
Michael Barbaro and Zoe Chace in Conversation ...

Zoe Chace of This American Life and Michael Barbaro of The Daily speak about the rewards and challenges of making stories for audio, the "tyranny of the good talker," and the sense of intimacy that comes from the voice alone.

Season 5
duPont-Columbia Awards
"I Felt Like a Filmmaker, Not Like a Refugee:" ...

“When we were in the back of a van crossing Hungary to Vienna, the driver was drunk and all the smugglers had AK-47s... and I remember my cousin looking at me like, I hope you're not filming. But I was secretly holding the camera.”

Exodus’ subject Hassan Akkad on filming himself, and Director James Bluemel on collecting these important stories.

Season 4
duPont-Columbia Awards
Death, Life and Writing: Director Vanessa Gould

"It struck me how quickly the facts of a life just start to immediately disappear when someone dies." OBIT director Vanessa Gould on why she was compelled to make her film.

Season 17

Revisiting HBO Real Sports’ David Scott as an Era Comes to an End

“It is easier than it's ever been in the history of human civilization to get your work in print, on the air, on the web. And that is just an amazing opportunity that frankly no other generation before you has had -  so have at it.” 

- HBO Real Sports’ David Scott’s advice to young journalists

We revisit duPont-Columbia Awards Winner David Scott’s interview to mark the end of an era - 29 seasons of the groundbreaking “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel," a hard-hitting magazine show that looked at sports from the complex lens of power, culture, and human rights.

“The Janes” Doc Directors on Its Relevance Today

“These were just ordinary women turned outlaws.” - Director Tia Lessin

Directors of the 2023 DuPont award-winning film ‘The Janes’, Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin join journalist and J School Adjunct Professor Jessica Bruder for a lively conversation about their film that deep dives into an historic underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions, in the 60s and 70s. 

CNN's Jake Tapper with Dean Jelani Cobb

“The incentive structures in the worlds of politics and news media… are geared towards division and not just division, but demonizing people.  And it's very dangerous. It has already resulted in loss of life.”

-CNN’s Jake Tapper

Jake Tapper is the CNN Chief Washington Correspondent, anchor of The Lead with Jake Tapper, and co-host of the Sunday morning public affairs program State of the Union. In 2023, he was part of the team that won a duPont-Columbia award for their coverage of the conflict in Ukraine. He also hosted the awards at Columbia University in 2018.

In this episode, Tapper sits down with Columbia Journalism School’s Dean Jelani Cobb to reminisce about their longstanding friendship and talk about the extraordinary state of American politics. including how journalists should report on figures like Trump. 


The New Yorker’s Masha Gessen with Dean Jelani Cobb

“Maybe the whole art of being a journalist, is being defenseless…you have to be willing to be injured by what you see and somehow convey that..but also not to not to let that injury get in the way of seeing.”

–Journalist Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen is an award-winning journalist and author who received the 2022 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, honoring their decades-long career. They have covered topics such as Putin, Trump, L.G.B.T.Q rights, and most recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In this episode, Gessen joins fellow New Yorker staff writer and Columbia Journalism School’s Dean Jelani Cobb to discuss the path that led them to become an essential voice highlighting some of the most vital and pressing issues facing Russia, the US, and beyond.