Editorial Moves at the Observer

I’m pleased to announce some good internal news at the Texas Observer. Two of our writers will be moving into new positions starting next year, as they have done and will continue to do excellent work in furtherance of the Observer‘s mission.

After two years as the inaugural David McHam investigative reporting fellow at the Observer, Josephine Lee is moving into a permanent staff writer role. Lee has led the Observer’s education coverage with fearless investigations of a shocking arrest in Brownsville and of a charter school network, while also covering labor and Houston politics and culture. 

In addition, Francesca D’Annunzio, who is wrapping up a year as a Roy W. Howard investigative reporting fellow at the Observer, will become the Observer’s 2025 McHam investigative reporting fellow. D’Annunzio has exposed collaboration between vigilantes and local law enforcement at the border, in addition to covering immigration. 

Josephine Lee (left) and Francesca D’Annunzio

The McHam fellowship is a project of the Belden Miller Fund for Journalism. It is named for David McHam, a beloved former professor of journalism at Baylor University, SMU, and the University of Houston who earned awards and distinction for training new journalists. A group of former students honor Professor McHam by funding the McHam Fellowship at the Observer. 

Tom Belden, co-benefactor of the Belden Miller Fund with his wife, Janice Miller, said they could not be more pleased with the valuable journalism that Lee and D’Annunzio have produced for the Observer: “The stories these reporters have written are precisely what we hoped to achieve with our support to honor our great mentor and friend David. We look forward to another year helping the Observer’s mission to hew hard to the truth.”

Please check out more of Lee and D’Annunzio’s work on our website—where our stories are always free to everyone—and pitch in if you can to support us here: donate, join (get the magazine), subscribe to our newsletter.

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