Derrick Ashong is joining Fusion as an anchor. He’ll cover politics, cultural events, the big headlines of the day and the entertainment and social media trends that matter most to young Hispanics and millennials.
Long Island University (LIU) has recognized FUSION, along with the partner organizations working with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, with a George Polk Award for its reporting on the Panama Papers. The investigation is being recognized in the financial journalism category.
The Panama Papers marks one of the largest investigations in journalism history with more than 100 media partners and 400 journalists collaborating on the reporting. The papers are a trove of leaked documents from inside Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm that creates offshore companies to hide financial activities of the rich and powerful. A leak to Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung of 11.5 million documents involving 210,000 companies was shared with CPI’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which coordinated investigative work with media partners such as McClatchy, FUSION, The Guardian, Le Monde and others.
As one of the few English-language partners in the United States,
FUSION produced a series of digital reports as well as a one hour documentary “The Naked Truth: Dirty Little Secrets.” That reporting is available here.
The Polk Awards honor and celebrate the impact of courageous and authentic journalism on our national and global discourse.
Series Kicks Off Partnership That Brings Together Award-Winning Content and Diverse Voices to Elevate Important National Issues
FUSION, The Root and the Peabody Media Center have launched a content partnership that will bring Peabody’s rich media archive together with FUSION’s diverse voices to explore issues of contemporary social importance; content will appear across TV and digital platforms.
The first project will celebrate Black History Month in a digital video series that revisits African-American history from several perspectives including: an examination of how race has been a defining feature of the struggle for equality and justice for all of Baltimore’s citizens; black power and creative expression in the civil rights era; and historical documentaries that focus on the rich tapestry of what it’s like to be black in America.
The series will be featured throughout February across the digital, social and OTT platforms of FUSION and The Root, the leading news and culture site for African-Americans, and will include contemporary Peabody-winning programming by some of the most creative African-American storytellers working in television today:
“Baltimore: Then & Now” | Baltimore has been a case study of race relations in America since the mid-1950s. The Peabody Media Center revisits its archive for content that demonstrates how the city’s conversation about race has evolved over the years, finding that poverty, class and lack of investment in infrastructure have long been key factors in the city’s struggles. See the first installment now on The Root and FUSION.net.
“Black Power and Creative Expression” | Both local and national programming provided African-Americans vehicles to express themselves through art and performance. From spoken word performances on productions such as “Tell It Like It Is!” and “Colored People’s Time” to appearances by James Brown and Nina Simone on national TV, the medium captured the voices of a movement.
“Storytellers: Giving African-Americans a Voice” | From obscure entries such as Ossie Davis’ “Slavery” to transformative programs such as “Roots,” a look at the role of African-Americans from behind the lens, featuring conversations with Stanley Nelson and Henry Louis Gates Jr., the co-founder and Chairman of The Root.
“African-American Narratives Today” | Race remains a central talking point in the U.S. and Peabody continually recognizes stories and storytellers that address the issue in innovative, unexpected ways—now it examines a few examples of voices that are changing and continuing the conversation. Segment includes a special conversation with Key & Peele.
Peabody Spotlight is a digital series produced by the Peabody Media Center at the University of Georgia. Each piece draws from the vast Peabody Awards archives, the third largest repository of audio-visual materials in the United States. The Peabody Spotlight will focus on significant societal issues as represented through the storytelling of Peabody winners and finalists, as well as 75 years of broadcasting’s best programming.
New Year-Long Effort Will Include Special Programming on FUSION TV, Enterprise Reporting, and Special Events Around Gender, Environmental, Economic Justice and Civil Rights Issues
‘FUSION Fights’ for Gender Justice Kicks off with Panel Discussion at Davos and Continues with Special Coverage of the Women’s March on Washington
FUSION today announced the launch of ‘FUSION Fights,’ a new cross-platform content initiative that seeks to elevate conversations around social justice issues that impact young, diverse communities, and often don’t receive the media coverage these issues merit. The announcement was made at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
The effort builds on FUSION’s commitment to covering social justice issues and will include the production of television, digital, and social content that amplifies the diverse voices in America and the issues that matter most to them. ‘FUSION Fights’ will also include specific calls to action driven by FUSION’s RiseUp social impact unit. ‘FUSION Fights’ will initially focus on the following social justice issues:
FUSION Fights for Gender Justice: This election cycle underscores the need to ensure more women have a strong and equitable voice in shaping our public and private institutions. This cycle highlighted the threats, veiled and unveiled, to women’s health and to the fundamental right to control our own bodies, as well as important subjects like equal pay, paid family leave, and sexual harassment. FUSION fights for these rights, and for the rights of all individuals, regardless of gender identity or sexual preference, to live with dignity, and with the security that all can afford to care for their families.
FUSION Fights for Economic Justice: Over the last few decades, the gap between the 1% and the rest of the country has grown exponentially. History has demonstrated again and again that nations with such great imbalance struggle to uphold their core democratic principles. As President Barack Obama said in his final address: “if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hard-working white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.” FUSION fights for basic economic opportunity for all Americans.
FUSION Fights for Civil Rights: The ‘millennial’ generation is the most diverse generation to come of age in our nation’s history and future generations will make the U.S. a majority-minority nation by 2044. FUSION will fight for those championing diversity and inclusivity with coverage around issues of race, immigrant rights, islamophobia, and LGBT rights as well as issues of access and representation like voting rights and redistricting.
FUSION Fights for Environmental Justice: Quite simply, without a healthy earth, the rest of the fights will soon become irrelevant. Too often, though, traditional environmental movements and the media have overlooked the leadership and courage of young, multicultural Americans working to protect our basic, natural resources. FUSION fights for the voices who are working to protect our planet and shines a light on issues including water conservation and access to clean water, animal rights, protection of Native land and national parks, and climate change.
“With so much at stake as a transition of power happens in Washington, FUSION will continue its wide-ranging coverage of social justice issues by amplifying diverse voices and fighting for more substantive conversations on several core issues. We want to spark more dialogue and drive action that will help ensure we build a stronger democracy and more just society for our country’s diverse youth,” said FUSION Co-Presidents Daniel Eilemberg and Boris Gartner.