About Us
Neon Tommy is an online-only, around-the-clock, student-run, Los Angeles-based news source sponsored by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism through Annenberg Digital News.
Our visitors depend on us to cover crucial stories that would otherwise fall by the wayside, and to provide meaningful context in a cluttered media landscape. Our fleet of reporters is a powerful presence throughout Los Angeles and across Southern California, with selective coverage of national and international events.
We take particular care to avoid redundancy with other news outlets; our work is fresh and unique, telling stories that other outlets are not. When another outlet has the story, we point our visitors there.
We are innovative and interactive, pushing the boundaries of storytelling on the Internet. We throw dated, inaccurate, and misguided news paradigms out the window. We employ a variety of platforms and technologies to create engaging experiences for our visitors. We represent the future of digital news.
Annenberg Digital News
Annenberg Digital News is a multimedia newsroom that is operated, edited and managed by graduate and undergraduate journalism students of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
It serves not only as a lab and incubator for ongoing and transformative innovation in the fast-changing world of journalism but also as a vibrant and rich source of the very best in local, regional, national and international reporting and commentary.
ADN publishes Neon Tommy, constantly refreshing the site with the very best in Annenberg journalism. ADN draws not only from its own robust stable of reporters and editors, but also brings forward the very best in multi-platform journalism produced by the various reporting, investigative reporting, collaborative reporting projects, research centers and institutes that have put USC Annenberg on the front lines of modern American journalism.
Staff
Brianna Sacks, Editor-in-Chief E-mail
Aaron Liu, Senior News Editor E-mail
Nandini Ruparel, Assistant News Editor E-mail
Michelle Toh, Assistant News Editor E-mail
Eric Parra, Tech Editor E-mail
James Santelli, Sports Director E-mail
Melissah Yang, Senior Arts Editor E-mail
Katie Buenneke, Theater Editor E-mail
Kelli Shiroma, Food Editor E-mail
Beth Johnson, Senior Entertainment Editor E-mail
Lilian Min, Music Editor E-mail
Allison Selick, Fashion Editor E-mail
Kelly Hanelt, TV Editor E-mail
Jenny Chao, Associate Entertainment Editor E-mail
Kathy Zerbib, Associate Film and TV Editor E-mail
Cara Palmer, Opinion Editor E-mail
Also visit some of our related leading Annenberg journalism learning labs, projects and research centers: