
Jonathan Franklin
Jonathan Franklin is a digital reporter on the News desk covering general assignment and breaking national news.
For the last few years, Franklin has been reporting and covering a broad spectrum of local and national news in the nation's capital. Prior to NPR, he served as a digital multiskilled journalist for the TEGNA-owned CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., WUSA. While at WUSA, Franklin covered and reported on some of the major stories over the last two years – the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the Black/African American community, D.C.'s racial protests and demonstrations following the death of George Floyd, the 2020 presidential election and the January 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.
A scan of Franklin's byline will find hundreds of local breaking news stories, engaging ledes and well-calibrated anecdotes that center the individuals and communities in service of the journalism he's pursuing.
Prior to WUSA, Jonathan produced and reported for various ABC and CW affiliates across the country and was a freelance multimedia journalist for The Washington Informer in Washington, D.C. He began his journalism career at WDCW in Washington.
A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Franklin earned his master's degree in journalism with an emphasis in broadcast and digital journalism from Georgetown University and his undergraduate degrees in English, Humanities and African/African American Studies from Wofford College.
Franklin is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., both the National and Washington Associations of Black Journalists, Online News Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists.
In his spare time, Franklin enjoys traveling to new cities and countries, watching movies, reading a good novel, and all alongside his favorite pastime: brunch.
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Despite leads from the public that have poured in over the last three years, there have been no solid answers regarding the 24-year-old geologist’s disappearance in Arizona on June 23, 2021.
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Shy'Kemmia Pate was just 8 years old when she vanished from her family's porch in Unadilla, Ga., on Sept. 4, 1998. She has not been heard from or seen ever since.
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Beyonce tickets are on sale, but after the Taylor Swift debacle there are questions about whether Ticketmaster is up to the challenges.
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Just like with any voting bloc, there's still a vast array of diverging opinions, ideologies and issues that are important among Black voters in races.
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The 40-page class-action lawsuit alleges the state's law enforcement agency has a history of engaging in systemic discrimination against its officers of color.
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In both incidents, officials say the bed rails were not securely attached to the bed. The two victims became entrapped between the product and their mattresses.
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Officials in Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota and New York reported their first cases of the variant on Thursday, one day after the first U.S. case was identified in California.
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To all those holiday present procrastinators out there (you know who you are): Be sure to ship that holiday gift sooner rather than later to get those presents to their destination before December 25.
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The individual returned from South Africa on Nov. 22 and had mild symptoms. Cases have been found in more than 20 countries, less than a week after the worrying new variant was first identified.
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Many major retailers and fast-food chains have announced they will be closed this Thanksgiving. A few, however, will stay open for customers.