Chicago’s Evolving Media Landscape: Trends in 2020

Morgan Elise Johnson

Morgan Elise Johnson (Producer/Director) is an independent filmmaker who recently co-founded The TRiiBE (www.thetriibe.com), a digital publication that is reshaping the narrative of Black Chicago. She is also co-producing Unapologetic, a documentary that examines the contributions of queer femmes at the helm of the Movement for Black Lives in Chicago. 

Previously, she was a producer for Milwaukee-based production house, 371 Productions, where she co-directed There Are Jews Here (2015) and produced Virtual Reality documentary and Sundance Film Festival selection, Across the Line (2016).

She earned a BS in Radio/TV/Film from Northwestern University and is a native of North Chicago, IL.

Gregory Pratt

Raised in Little Village, Gregory Pratt covers Mayor Lori Lightfoot and City Hall for the Chicago Tribune. Before joining the Tribune in 2013, he worked for the BGA, alt-weeklies in Phoenix and Minneapolis, and Hoy. He has been a finalist for the Livingston and earned other national honors, including from the National Headliner Awards, the Lisagors, and Scripps Howard. He serves on the Chicago Tribune Guild’s executive committee.

Jen Sabella

Jen Sabella is the Director of Strategy and co-founder of Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit news site dedicated to covering Chicago's neighborhoods. Before starting Block Club, Jen was Deputy Editor and Director of Social Media at DNAinfo Chicago, a site she helped launch in 2012. Prior to that, she was HuffPost’s Chicago Editor and a breaking news reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times. Jen also co-hosts The Girl Talk, a monthly conversation series and podcast featuring influential Chicago women. Jen has been named among the 10 most powerful women in Chicago journalism by Robert Feder, a 2019 "power player" by Chicago Magazine and one of the Windy City Times' "30 Under 30" when she was actually under 30.

Jen grew up in Chicago, attending Columbia College Chicago and Mother McAuley High School.