The Current GA is a not-for-profit, independent newsroom with a dedicated staff of professional journalists with experience in the community, state, nation and world.
MARGARET COKER, EDITOR IN CHIEF
Margaret Coker, the editor-in-chief, started her two-decade career in journalism at Cox Newspapers before going to work at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In that time she covered stories from 32 countries on four continents.
Margaret has won numerous national journalism prizes for investigative, business and diplomatic reporting as well as feature writing. She led a team of Wall Street Journal reporters named as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting in 2017. She is the author of “The Spymaster of Baghdad,” a nonfiction book of Iraqi patriotism in the battle against Isis.
Margaret’s journalism has led to criminal trials and regulatory investigations of global banks and financiers, the dismissal of 14 corrupt police officers, and freedom for three people wrongly convicted and incarcerated. She speaks Arabic and Russian.
She came home to Savannah in 2019 to launch The Current, to revive an investigative news culture in Coastal Georgia, and to mentor a new generation of journalists in our region. Contact her at margaret.coker@thecurrentga.org
SUSAN CATRON, MANAGING EDITOR
Susan Catron, managing editor, has more than two decades of experience in Georgia newspapers.
From November 2005 until May 2020, Susan served as executive editor of the Savannah Morning News. During her time there, she supervised news content, staffing and budgets for Coastal Georgia’s largest daily newspaper and several weekly newspapers, along with other monthly and special publications. The paper was named best in the state eight times under her leadership.
A native of North Carolina, she came to Georgia in 1998 as managing editor for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. The news staff won the Georgia Associated Press Freedom of Information Award in 2005 for its coverage and ensuing state Supreme Court litigation of a case involving the shooting after an unarmed Black man by a law enforcement officer. She’s also worked at daily newspapers in Louisiana, Missouri, Florida and Kentucky.
She is an adjunct instructor at Savannah State University, the owner of Catron Content Services, a board member of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation and Savannah Council on World Affairs, a lapsed Georgia Master Gardener, and loves to kayak the marshes and rivers along the coast. Contact her at susan.catron@thecurrentga.org
JOURNALISTS
MARY LANDERS
Mary Landers covers Coastal Georgia’s environment for The Current, a topic she covered for nearly 24 years at the Savannah Morning News, where she began and ended her time there writing about health, including most recently focusing on the pandemic. She’s adept at telling the stories of everyone from jellyfish fishers to pipeline protesters.
Mary is a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, where she taught environmental science at Lake Malawi National Park. She also speaks Chichewa and basic Spanish. As a reporter in Georgia, she’s won numerous investigative reporting awards as well as the Larry Peterson Investigative Journalism Award. Contact her at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org
ROBIN KEMP
Robin was the founder of The Clayton Crescent, a nonprofit news site where she published independent, accountability news for her neighbors for more than 3 years. Her work is a continuation of a family tradition. Born in New Orleans on Mardi Gras, Robin grew up in her father’s newsroom, then worked for the weekly paper, Gambit. As a reporter there, she covered the environment, politics, small business, and culture before coming to Georgia to work at CNN. After graduate school and a period of teaching and freelance writing, Robin worked at The Weather Channel, where she innovated the power outage map, before returning to newspaper reporting in Clayton County. She was named the 2021 Media Changemaker by the Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism. Robin loves coastal culture, dogs, the blues, photography, and good people. Send Liberty County news tips to her at: robin.kemp@thecurrentga.org
JABARI GIBBS
Jabari Gibbs is an accountability reporter for Glynn County. He is a Report for America Fellow. He is from Atlanta, Georgia and is a graduate of Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus. He was a 2023 summer fellow at The Current, sponsored by the Emma Bowen Foundation. At Georgia Southern, he majored in communications, and served as the Editor-in-Chief for The George-Anne Inkwell. His investigative pieces have led to change at the university. In his free time he enjoys playing video games and working out. Contact him at jabari.gibbs@thecurrentga.org
MAGGIE LEE
Maggie Lee is a data reporter for The Current. She has been covering Georgia and metro Atlanta government and politics since 2008, contributing writing and data journalism over the years to Creative Loafing, SaportaReport, Reporter Newspapers, The Telegraph (Macon) and others. Find her online at maggielee.net.
CRAIG NELSON
Craig Nelson is a former international correspondent for The Associated Press, the Sydney (Australia) Morning-Herald, Cox Newspapers and The Wall Street Journal. He also served as foreign editor for The National (Abu Dhabi) and as the Journal’s Kabul bureau chief and London-based Africa and Middle East editor. He speaks Spanish. He lives and works in Savannah as a freelance writer. Contact him at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com
JUSTIN TAYLOR
Justin Taylor is a full-time visual journalist for The Current GA and Report for America/Catchlight Local. If his name is familiar, he was a freelance photographer before that working regularly for The Current, as well as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His versatile style blends elements of fine art, photojournalism, and drone photography.
A Savannah native, Justin is committed to documenting the changing life in surrounding Coastal Georgia. Often focusing on environmental issues and disappearing regional communities, Justin’s photography has a true sense of story that illuminates the every day from new angles.
Justin’s obsession with photography started in 2003 while documenting his experience as a U.S. Marine during the Iraq War, and he remains inspired by creating images that tell a story and capture the feeling of a moment. During his 15 years piloting tug boats on the Savannah River, he used his off time to travel the country, exploring and documenting the landscapes of the American West. When not traveling the country, Justin can be found en route to a new adventure with camera in hand and dog, Miles, in tow. Contact him at justin.taylor@thecurrentga.org
SARAH HARWELL
Sarah Harwell is social media editor. She is a Florida native and 2024 graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She has served as editor and brand engagement manager for Centric magazine and beat reporter for NSM Today, both student-run publications at UCF, as well as interned at i4 business magazine. Sarah came to The Current as a Dow Jones News Fund audience engagement intern in 2023. She came back to The Current for Election 2024 work leading 3 college interns for social media presentations for 6 weeks. Contact her at sarahh.thecurrent@gmail.com
COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT
CHRISTOPHER SWEAT
Chris has a wealth of experience in Coastal Georgia in the for-profit and non-profit worlds, mostly recently at the Coastal Georgia YMCA. He has worked in marketing for SMG Facilities, the Savannah Morning News, Ghost Coast Distillery and events management for Playbook, Inc. He’s a journalism graduate of the University of Georgia and president of the Savannah alumni chapter. He has a master’s degree in professional communication from Georgia Southern. Contact him at christopher.sweat@thecurrentga.org.
COLLEGIATE REPORTING STAFF
2025
JASMINE WRIGHT
Jasmine Wright is a 2025 graduate from Indiana University with a bachelor’s in journalism. While at IU, Jasmine worked as an investigative reporter for the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and as a local government reporter and feature writer for the radio station WFHB. She now works as a fall reporting fellow for The Current through the Scripps Howard Foundation. Contact her at jasmine.thecurrentga@outlook.com
TYLER DAVIS
Tyler Davis, a Jacksonville, Fla., native, is a senior set to graduate in December from American University with a degree in journalism and literature. While at AU, they worked as The Eagle‘s news managing editor, overseeing coverage of Title IX cases and the university’s budget deficit. Tyler has also interned for DC Witness, a non-profit newsroom dedicated to covering violent crime cases at the D.C. Superior Courthouse. They come to The Current as the Dow Jones News Fund business reporting intern. Contact them at tyler.thecurrent@gmail.com
DOMONIQUE KING
Domonique King is a senior at Mercer University double majoring in journalism and political science. She is interning at The Current through the Couric Fellowship, awarded by the Reg Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism. She currently writes for The Den, Mercer University’s news and features website, and is an intern at Storytellers Macon, a nonprofit. Domonique is from Hinesville and a graduate of Bradwell Institute. She is passionate about making knowledge of systemic issues accessible to underserved communities. Contact her at domonique.thecurrent@gmail.com
ELLEN HUNTER
Ellen Hunter is a senior at Savannah State University majoring in mass communications with a concentration in journalism. She’s served as staff reporter and editor-in-chief of The Tigers Roar campus news site and has worked as a public relations intern for the City of Hinesville. She is a graduate of Bradwell Institute. Contact her at ellenthecurrentga@gmail.com.
LILY BELLE POLING
Lily Belle Poling is a rising junior at Yale University, where she studies English and Chinese. Originally from Montgomery, Alabama, she is the managing editor of the Yale Daily News, where she previously covered local housing and homelessness. She previously interned at The Blade, a daily regional newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. This summer, she is The Current’s Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting intern. Contact her at lilybelle.thecurrent@gmail.com
2024
Gillian Goodman of New York, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism; Julia Gentin of Mountain View Calif., Amherst College; Catherine Goodman of Savannah, Emory University; Brianna Leonard of Okeechobee, Fla., and Florida A&M University; Amira McKee, Columbia University; Serra Sowers of University of Florida.
ELECTION 2024 SOCIAL MEDIA INTERNS
University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism students Audrey Hamm, Bridget Goodman, Emily Laycock, led by 2023 summer staffer Sarah Harwell.
2023
Kailey Cota, University of South Carolina; Sarah Harwell of Tampa, Fla., University of Central Florida; Audrey Gibbs of Davidson, N.C., Columbia University; Caelin McQuilkin of Lee Vining, Calif., Amherst University; Jabari Gibbs of Atlanta, Georgia Southern University.
2022
Kate Griem of Brooklyn, N.Y., Harvard College; Jeffrey Glover, Savannah State University; Sonia Chajet Wides of Brooklyn, N.Y., Amherst College; Olivia Scott of Savannah, Mercer University; Nick Sullivan, University of South Carolina; William Daughtry, University of Georgia.
2021
Jacqueline Ganun of Savannah, University of Georgia; Kayla Guilliams from western North Carolina, University of North Carolina; Jasmine Freeman of Macon, Savannah State University; Liz Richards, City University of New York Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism
You must be logged in to post a comment.