Tatiana Serafin is an award-winning podcast host, writer and editor. She is currently the faculty lead for journalism at Northeastern University’s New York City campus and is an Associate Teaching Professor teaching first-year and upper level journalism courses, as well as the core First Amendment and the Media course. She also serves as the advisor to the campus newspaper, The Monitor.
Serafin previously directed the journalism program at Marymount Manhattan College, where she was an Associate Professor in Communications and Media Arts, in charge of developing new courses aligned to student needs. Prior to her work in academia, Serafin was an editor and staff writer at Forbes magazine where she initiated Forbes’ billionaire coverage in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and later freelanced for Forbes as well as political and business publications from the Wall Street Journal to Al Jazeera focusing on the nexus of power and money. In 2017, she co-founded FirstAmendmentWatch.org, a platform that documents threats to First Amendment freedoms and advocates for a deeper understanding of our protected rights of speech, press, assembly and petition. Serafin came to journalism after a career in management consulting where she advised multinational corporations on business strategy and market positioning.
Serafin won the 2022 Society of Professional Journalists award for her work on the Doorstep podcast, which was sponsored by the Council of Ethics in International Affairs, where she was a Senior Fellow studying global media trends. In 2014, she won the Newswomen’s Club award for her reporting on the Ukraine Maidan revolution.
Serafin is currently working on her doctoral dissertation on the impact of AI on news literacy. She has an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the New School, an MA in Journalism from New York University, an MA in Russian and East European Studies and a BA in International Relations from Georgetown University.
Serafin is a member of the Society for Professional Journalists, the Newswomen’s Club of New York and the Journalism and Women Symposium. She serves her community on the boards of Third Street Music School Settlement, Clinton Historical Society and Rotary International.
Research/Publications Highlights
Tatiana Serafin,
Ukraine’s President Zelensky Takes the Russia/Ukraine War Viral,
Orbis,
Volume 66, Issue 4,
2022,
Pages 460-476,
ISSN 0030-4387,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orbis.2022.08.002.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030438722000424)
Abstract: As Russia amassed thousands of troops and tanks on Ukraine’s border at the end of 2021 and the threat of nuclear war loomed large, Ukraine’s leadership ramped up a distinctly non-physical counter-offensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky and his tech savvy team focused on building a communications machine harnessing social media messaging, marketing savvy and celebrity to fight Russia digitally as well as directly on the battlefield. Never has a sitting president relied so heavily on various social apps to communicate both at home and abroad, and to build Ukraine’s brand. Whether or not this strategy is sustainable amidst a protracted war and short internet attention spans is yet to be seen, but Zelensky has made a case for marketing war that other leaders are sure to follow.
Departments
Journalism
Education
- MFA, Nonfiction Writing, The New School
- MA, Journalism, New York University
- MA, Russian and East European Studies, Georgetown University
- BA, International Relations, Georgetown University
Awards
- 2022 Society of Professional Journalists award for work on The Doorstep podcast
- 2014 Newswomen’s Club award for reporting on the Ukraine Maidan revolution
Research Focus
- News Literacy
- AI Literacy
- Media Ecosystems
Courses Taught
- Understanding Today’s News
- Fundamentals of Reporting and Writing
- Political Reporting, Design for Storytelling
- First Amendment and the Media