For Immediate Release:
Dateline: Indianapolis,
IN
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
CONTACT: Emily Bloch, SPJ National President, eblochjourno@gmail.com
Nadia Gordon, SPJ Communications Coordinator, ngordon@hq.spj.org
INDIANAPOLIS – Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Emily Bloch is the Society of Professional Journalists’ 108th national president.
Bloch, who has served as vice president of the organization this past year, was sworn in during the SPJ Board of Directors online ceremony today via Zoom.
Bloch is a journalist specializing in youth and internet culture and its intersections with diversity and politics. She covers national trending news for the Inquirer. Bloch, 30, and former SPJ President Lynn Walsh tie as the youngest female presidents of the national organization. Walsh has served as a friend and mentor to Bloch over the years.
Bloch, a native Floridian, previously covered education for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville while simultaneously specializing in the paper’s digital engagement, Instagram and Reddit strategies. She coins herself “a recovering Floridian thriving in South Philly.” Bloch also reported at The Sun-Sentinel and South Florida Gay News. Her work has been published in Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and The Lily. She’s a proud NewsGuild member.
Bloch is a longtime member and leader of SPJ, first working as a student representative for the Florida Pro Chapter in 2016 and as Region 3 assistant director that same year. In 2019, she became the chapter’s president, and during her tenure, SPJ Florida received back-to-back Large Chapter of the Year honors in 2020 and 2021. The SPJ Race & Gender Hotline was established under her leadership. Bloch was also a member of the SPJ Executive Director Search Committee, which worked for six months to interview, select and ultimately hire SPJ's new executive director.
"It was the in-person trainings and programming the Florida SPJ chapter hosted that first inspired me to get involved with the organization and helped mold my career into what it is today,” Bloch said. “The chops I gained at obituary-writing contests and interviewing seminars helped me learn live, in the field.”
As a practicing journalist and SPJ Leader, Bloch regularly speaks at public events centering around journalism, the First Amendment, student journalism and more. She also speaks to high school and college journalists, visiting their newsrooms through Zoom sessions or attending their classes. Since 2015, she has presented multiple sessions at the College Media Association convention, a partnership she’s excited to extend with the upcoming joint SPJ, CMA and Associated Collegiate Press conference, MediaFest25, in Washington, D.C.
“I want to ensure those same opportunities are around for the next generation of journalists — and better. But to do that, SPJ has to cement its relevance within the media landscape. We can only do that by making sure everyone has a seat at the table. I'm excited to continue to do the work,” Bloch said.
Bloch's goals for SPJ are to extend the organization's reach to critical media roles including search engine optimization, social media, and community engagement experts, to elevate the work of local, alternative and student media outlets, to diversify newsrooms at all levels including the LGBTQ+ community and to highlight the importance of newsroom unions across the industry. In addition, she wants to ensure members and potential members understand SPJ's role in the media landscape as a foundation for ethical journalism.
She takes the reins from Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins, interim associate dean at Santa Monica College and the first Black woman to become SPJ president.
SPJ champions journalists by recognizing outstanding achievement, fighting to protect press freedom, promoting high ethical standards and educating new generations of emerging professionals. Support excellent journalism and fight for your right to know. Become a member and give to the Legal Defense Fund, First Amendment Forever Fund or SPJ Foundation.
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