Broken News: How Media Bias Influences Antisemitism

Jacki Alexander is the CEO and President of HonestReporting, leading the organization’s strategic vision and direction. She came to the organization after 15 years with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), where she played a key role in strengthening pro-Israel support across Florida and the Southeastern United States.

Recognized as one of the “Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2024” by The Algemeiner, Jacki is bringing innovating ideas to the fight against anti-Israel disinformation campaigns and Israel advocacy. She holds an MSc in the History of International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Wendy Sachs is a filmmaker, Emmy-award winning network news television producer (NBC, CNN, FOX), writer, author and speaker. She is the director and executive producer of OCTOBER 8, the critically acclaimed documentary about the explosion of antisemitism on college campuses, on social media and in the streets of America in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th. Debra Messing is also an executive producer on the film.

Uri Berliner is an editor and writer who is the recipient of Peabody, Loeb and Edward R. Murrow awards, among others, including a Nieman Fellowship for journalism at Harvard. As a newspaper reporter, he covered business and economics. At NPR, where he worked for 25 years, Uri handled breaking news, enterprise stories, and podcast development. Uri was a senior business editor at NPR until last April, when he wrote an essay for The Free Press saying that the once “open-minded, curious” network lost its way when it became mired in bias, and began telling its audience what to think. He was suspended without pay, denounced by NPR’s CEO, and subsequently resigned. He is now a contributing editor at The Free Press.

Ali Zelenko is SVP of External Affairs Strategy. In this role she leads organization-wide media and marketing campaigns, and oversees the communications and brand/marketing teams.

She’s a veteran of the media industry – most recently at NBC News, where she was SVP of communications and chief spokesperson for all shows, units and platforms. She also led strategic initiatives for the division, as well as partnerships for its documentary film unit. And she ran an award-winning company-wide marketing campaign for NBC Universal.

Previously she was SVP of comms at TIME, leading media relations and special projects, including the TIME 100 Gala, one of the industry’s most prestigious events.

Earlier in her career she also led comms efforts for CNN, Time Inc. and People magazine.

She’s on the boards of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, the Peabodys and City Year New York. She previously served as Board of Visitors Chair of the School of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has also given her two honors: the Distinguished Alumni Award and the Nafziger Award.