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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The series, currently titled The Gates, will follow the lives of a wealthy Black family in a posh, gated community. There's no word yet about when the show will air or who will star in it. -
With a court-appointed guardian in charge of her finances, the former talk show host has practically no autonomy. Here's what guardianships do — and how it impacts Williams.
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News of the former TV host's medical diagnosis comes days ahead of the TV premiere of Where is Wendy Williams? — a two-part documentary detailing her health battles.
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Captain Alicia White's move to the Public Integrity Bureau went into effect on Feb. 11, officials say. She is one of the six officers involved in Freddie Gray's death, none of whom were convicted. -
The rappers say that Walmart and Post Consumer Foods neglected their cereal brand and intentionally hid it in stockrooms to prevent it from being sold to customers. -
The magnet book mixed up W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Carter G. Woodson. Target said it will no longer sell the book in stores or online and that it notified the publisher of the errors. -
The calls raise questions about the May 20, 2023, incident and how the shooting was handled by officers with the Indianola, Miss., Police Department. -
Officials in Mississippi made the footage available after calls from 11-year-old Aderrien Murry's mother and the family's attorney to make it public. -
The designs featured on the coins honor Tubman's life and her work as an abolitionist and social activist. The coins include $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half-dollar coins. -
Shy'Kemmia Pate went missing from her home in Georgia more than 25 years ago, when she was eight years old. Her family is still hoping for answers.
