About

Marc Perrusquia is The Institute’s director. Previously, he worked 29 years at The Commercial Appeal, the daily newspaper in Memphis, winning numerous state and national awards as he produced some of this city’s most memorable watchdog reporting. His investigations of Tennessee’s corrupt taxpayer-funded childcare system led to broad reforms and the criminal prosecutions of six people. Perrusquia’s long-running reporting on state senator John Ford and larger political corruption in Memphis inspired the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz bribery sting that altered the state’s political landscape. In 2003, he revealed how dozens of Habitat for Humanity families filed for bankruptcy or lost their homes to predatory lenders in Memphis, leading the nonprofit to pass nationwide reforms to promote financial literacy and protect Habitat homes. His investigation of practices by car title lenders who gouged customers with 264-percent interest rates and inescapable loan terms led to greater state regulation. His 2018 book, A Spy in Canaan: How the FBI Used a Famous Photographer to Infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, tells the story of paid informant Ernest Withers and the abuses of political surveillance in Memphis. He reported and co-produced WKNO-FM public radio’s 2020 mini-documentary on Memphis’s rape kit crisis, The Waiting Decade, and served as a consultant to Stitcher’s 2022 ten-part podcast, Ernie’s Secret. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Minnesota.

David Waters is The Institute’s associate director. He worked for The Commercial Appeal for more than 35 years, holding a variety of reporting and editing positions, including religion and education reporter, columnist, and editorial page editor. He also was religion editor for The Washington Post from 2007-2010 and launched, wrote, edited and produced its ‘On Faith’ website and ‘Under God’ blog. Waters has written several award-winning explanatory narrative series on everything from the impact of generational poverty to a Memphis medical team’s treatment of heart patients in the Balkans. He has presented lectures and workshops on explanatory narrative journalism for the Poynter Institute, the National Writers Workshop, Southern Newspaper Publishers, Religion Newswriters Association, and Scripps Howard. His numerous state and national journalism awards include a Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, five Wilbur Awards from the Religion Communicators Council, and induction in the Scripps Howard Editorial Hall of Fame. Waters, a 1981 graduate of the University of Memphis, and a 2009 recipient of the Outstanding Journalism Alumni Award, has taught a number of undergraduate and graduate journalism classes.

Meghnad Bose is an award-winning investigative journalist with over ten years of experience as a reporter and editor. Before joining the Institute for Public Service Reporting in August 2025, Bose was a reporter and Delacorte Fellow at Columbia Journalism Review, and an independent journalist reporting for publications such as The Intercept, Drop Site News, Documented, Hyperallergic, Votebeat, New York Focus and more. Bose is an alum of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to moving to the United States, he worked as a journalist in India where his investigations exposed questionable spending in a government-run COVID relief fund, cast light on the atrocities of organized anti-Muslim lynch mobs, and uncovered academic grade tampering involving millions of high school students. Bose is a two-time recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award, considered India’s top journalism honor, and a five-time winner of the South Asian Digital Media Award conferred by the World Association of News Publishers.

Micaela A. Watts has worked as a journalist in Memphis since 2015. She is dedicated to issues of resource access, government accountability, healthcare and housing, and criminal justice. For over five years, she covered breaking news and issues tied to access and equity at The Commercial Appeal. Her reporting for The CAand USA TODAYincluded the COVID-19 pandemic, the murders of Eliza Fletcher and Tyre Nichols, and hundreds of other topics. In 2023, she worked as the lead reporter and on-screen host of “The Tyre Nichols Beating: What Went Wrong in Memphis”, a documentary from USA TODAY’s States of America. She has previously reported for the Memphis Flyer, Chalkbeat Tennessee AND MLK50: Justice through Journalism, and has appeared as a reporter and commentator for BBC News, MSNBC, and WKNO. She holds a BA in Communications & Fine Arts from the University of Memphis.

Christopher Blank is The Institute’s Senior Producer. He joins us via our broadcast partner and NPR affiliate WKNO-FM, where he serves as News Director. As a contributor to NPR, he has covered a wide range of iconic Southern news stories—from Confederate statue removal to Elvis Presley fanaticism. His radio features have won multiple awards from the Public Media Journalists Association and the Green Eyeshades. Before leaping headlong into broadcast production nearly a decade ago, he was a long-time arts and culture writer for The Commercial Appeal. That stint included a prestigious USC Annenberg Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship and two additional fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He holds a literary arts medal from the Germantown Arts Alliance. In keeping with his interest in and support of the Memphis arts community, he also leads WKNO’s Culture Desk, which hosts group outings and critical discussions about regional arts and culture.

Mel Eleftheriou is a sophomore journalism major at the University of Memphis. Mel was born in Southaven, Mississippi, and moved to Memphis in 2024. Since a young child, Mel has been an avid news reader. When other kids watched cartoons, they watched the news. This inspired them to pursue a career in journalism. Mel aims to address issues that affect people’s lives and capture their experiences in their writing.

Mel began reporting for The Daily Helmsman, the University of Memphis student newspaper, in 2024. As a freshman, they won an award and an honorable mention from the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media for their reporting. One of Mel’s most notable works was their story covering the mold problem in student housing at the UofM. That story won them an honorable mention for the Marc Perrusquia Investigative Journalism Award. They also covered a range of news events, producing a series of feature stories and other investigative pieces. Collectively, those stories helped Mel win the Saul Brown/Memphis Press-Scimitar Award.

“I am excited to begin my internship here and be guided by the same people who inspired me since I was a young child,” Eleftheriou said. “I am looking forward to getting to work with the Institute for Public Service Reporting and investigating issues across Memphis.”

Erika Konig returns for another semester as an intern with The Institute. Erika excelled as an intern during the 2024-25 academic year, writing on issues ranging from cutbacks to public transportation, food insecurity and U.S. immigration policy.

She is a first-generation college student. She was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when she was 13. She has lived in a handful of states, moving to Memphis in 2019. She worked in the hospitality industry for more than a decade before going back to school to earn a college degree. Last year, she obtained an associate’s degree in communication from Southwest Tennessee Community College. She graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA and was the student speaker at the commencement ceremony.

Erika transferred to the University of Memphis last spring to study journalism. She hopes to become an investigative journalist and would like to focus on issues affecting minority groups, specifically issues affecting the Hispanic community in the U.S. Fluent in two languages, she hopes to master the craft of journalism in both English and Spanish.

She completed an internship this summer at WMC-TV where she wrote online articles and news scripts and edited videos. During her internship at the Institute for Public Service Reporting, she looks forward to strengthening her writing and investigative skills. Erika strives to become a trustworthy and ethical investigative journalist.

“I would like to be a voice for those who are afraid to speak for themselves,’’ Erika said. “Also, as a Latina living in the U.S., I want to help my community stay informed of the issues that impact their daily lives because I believe knowledge is key to making better life choices.”

Erika Konig is a first-generation college student. She was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when she was 13. She has lived in a handful of states, moving to Memphis in 2019. She worked in the hospitality industry for more than a decade before going back to school to earn a college degree. Last year, she obtained an associate’s degree in communication from Southwest Tennessee Community College. She graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA and was the student speaker at the commencement ceremony.

Erika transferred to the University of Memphis last spring to study journalism. She hopes to become an investigative journalist and would like to focus on issues affecting minority groups, specifically issues affecting the Hispanic community in the U.S. Fluent in two languages, she hopes to master the craft of journalism in both English and Spanish.

She completed an internship this summer at WMC-TV where she wrote online articles and news scripts and edited videos. During her internship at the Institute for Public Service Reporting, she looks forward to strengthening her writing and investigative skills. Erika strives to become a trustworthy and ethical investigative journalist.

“I would like to be a voice for those who are afraid to speak for themselves,’’ Erika said. “Also, as a Latina living in the U.S., I want to help my community stay informed of the issues that impact their daily lives because I believe knowledge is key to making better life choices.”

Rose Ragsdale is a sophomore journalism major at the University of Memphis. She is a native Memphian who is passionate about improving the lives of her fellow students and neighbors through accurate reporting.

Outside school, Rose is a musician with over 12 years of experience playing original music around the city. She attributes her love of writing to the singer/songwriters she grew up listening to and admiring. As The Institute’s print intern, Rose hopes to make a difference on campus and gain valuable experience to carry into her career.  

“I’m excited and thankful for the opportunity to work with such great mentors,’’ Rose said. “My end goal is to produce stories that will push me to the next level of reporting. I want to take my love for journalism and hone it, and I know The Institute is the place for that.” 

Redding “Red” Jackson is a first-generation college student. She lived in South Bend, Indiana, for most of her childhood before moving to Middle Tennessee and later attending Fisk University in Nashville. She transferred last year to the University of Memphis to study Broadcast Journalism.   She hopes to someday host her own talk show.

After arriving on campus in Fall 2023, Redding created a radio show, “The Red Jam,’’ where she discusses religion, relationships and Memphis culture. She worked as news anchor for the UofM’s student television program, “Tiger News,” and shadowed ABC24 producer, Dayna Hayman, for a time. She’s a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Redding made the dean’s list in both of her two semesters here.

Now, as The Institute’s broadcast intern, she will try her hand in public radio working with our broadcast partner, WKNO-FM.

“I really want to focus on finishing out my last year of undergrad strong and really get my name out there,’’ Redding said. “I believe this internship with the Institute for Public Service Reporting and WKNO-FM will help me do so.”

Morgan “Jake” Lankford is a first-year graduate student in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis.  His writing talents allowed him to graduate magna cum laude from the UofM with a BA in journalism.  As an undergrad, he aced many a course – including Otis Sanford’s opinion writing class. 

A native Memphian and man of many hats, Jake has written for the UofM student newspaper, The Daily Helmsman. He hosts a show for The UofM’s ROAR internet radio station and is writing his fiction debut.  He also played baritone horn in the UofM marching band, our beloved “Mighty Sound of the South.”

After earning his undergraduate degree, Jake immediately turned his attention to the future, which led him to interning at The Institute.  “I am extremely thankful for all of the opportunities the UofM has offered me, and I am especially thankful that the Institute for Public Service Reporting has taken me on as an intern,” Lankford said. “Investigative journalism is an important subset of the fine art of journalism, and I am glad to be part of it and to develop my own voice as a writer and journalist.”

Scott Pickey is a second-semester graduate student in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media.  

A native Memphian, he graduated from Harding Academy and Christian Brothers University where he received a B.A. in Communication Arts/Journalism.  While at CBU, he also worked at WKNO-FM as a news and classical music announcer.

After graduation, Scott landed his first television newsroom job as an anchor/producer at KTVO-TV in Kirksville, MO.  That job launched an almost 30-year career as a news manager at television stations across the country: from Syracuse, NY to Wilmington, NC to Odessa-Midland, TX. 

“I’m looking forward to stepping out of the news director’s office for a while and getting back to my reporting roots,” Scott said. “I think this internship will allow the Institute and myself the opportunity to cover local stories you won’t see anywhere else in town. It’s an honor to be accepted into the internship and I greatly appreciate the opportunity.” 

Lana Canady is a senior majoring in Film & Video Production. She was born and raised in Memphis, where she attended Middle College High School before transferring to Memphis Virtual School, where she graduated second in her class.

She’s worked in various film and production capacities, including as a film intern at Rhodes College and also as a post-production assistant at CLOUD901, the Memphis Public Library’s research and performance technology lab for teens.

As our broadcast intern, she teams with WKNO-FM public radio.

“I hope to one day be an on-air personality for a national news organization and to direct quality productions,’’ Lana says. “I believe that working with WKNO will give me the foundational knowledge base necessary to achieve my goals in the future.”

Ben Wheeler is a graduate student in the Journalism and Strategic Media Department. His emphasis is News and Storytelling.

Ben was born in South Dakota and moved to Tennessee as a child, graduating from Cookeville High School and later from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

Ben brings several years of professional newspaper reporting experience to The Institute, having worked for the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan in South Dakota and the Herald-Citizen in Cookeville. He’s covered business and the environment, placing in the Tennessee Press Association’s annual journalism contest.

“I am looking forward to the valuable experience to be gained from working at the Institute as I continue to hone my skills as a reporter while I am working on my master’s degree,’’ Ben said. “I hope to use the skills gained during my time as an intern after graduating as I look to reenter the world of newspaper reporting.”

Caleb Suggs is a senior double-majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Film & Video Production.

Caleb was born and raised in Memphis. He attended Germantown High School, where he got his start in broadcasting as an anchor and voice talent at the school’s student television station, GHS-TV. He’s worked with a variety of media outlets at the U of M, including WUMR 91.7 FM, The Daily Helmsman, and Tiger News, where he currently serves as executive producer. Caleb has won several awards, including the Lurene Kelly Video Story Award, a Hearst Television I – Features award, and various Tennessee AP Broadcasters & Media Editors awards. 

He dreams of one day running a television production company of his own.

Christopher Fulton is a first-year graduate student at the U of M, where he’s seeking a master’s degree in Journalism with a focus on News and Storytelling.

Christopher was born in Florida but raised in Memphis. He attended Craigmont High School and Harding Academy. After high school, he briefly attended Arkansas State University before joining the Navy, serving from 2008 to 2013. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the U of M in 2020 with a BA in Journalism. He is a former managing editor at the campus newspaper, The Daily Helmsman.