Career Highlights

• Staff writer for The Washington Post
• Co-winner of the 2005 Distinguished International Reporting award from the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild
• Contributed to the Oakland Tribune, the San Diego Tribune, the Decatur Illinois Herald & Review and the Los Angeles Times TV magazine
• Has a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkley
• Contributed to MSNBC, PBS, CNN, BBC, ABC and National Public Radio, and was featured in a PBS Frontline documentary on reporting the war in Iraq
• She is a member of the Journalism and Women's Symposium and was a media fellow at Duke University in 2002.

Jackie Spinner is a journalist who has worked for The Washington Post since 1995. She received a Bachelors of Science degree in Journalism from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. She started at the Post as an intern on the financial staff, and then was employed as a metro reporter and financial reporter before becoming the Baghdad Bureau Chief.

As Baghdad Bureau Chief Spinner spent time in Iraq where she survived mortar attacks, car bombs, the Battle for Fallujah, and a kidnapping attempt outside of Abu Ghraib prison. Spinner has also contributed to MSNBC, PBS, CNN, BBC, ABC and National Public Radio, and was featured in a PBS Frontline documentary on reporting the war in Iraq. She also acts a travel writer whose exploits from the Galapagos Islands, Rock of Gibraltar, Spain, Finland and Jordan have been detailed in the travel pages of the Washington Post.

Our Interview

In an interview with host Zack Sherwood, Jackie gives her best advice to college students who want to enter the field of journalism. She talks about how the economy has changed what journalists do and the intricacies of being an embedded journalist.