# John Keefe (@jkeefe.bsky.social)

Profile: https://sifa.id/p/jkeefe.bsky.social
Headline: Weather Editor, New York Times

## About

John Keefe is a journalist and coder specializing in data, visualizations, maps, bots, and machine learning. He has held top newsroom roles, led technical innovation and reporting teams, built numerous coding projects, and teaches journalism graduate students. He is committed to helping journalists use technology for reporting and to inform audiences.

## Career

- **Weather Editor at The New York Times** (Aug 2025 - Present)
- **Weather Data Editor at The New York Times** (Jul 2022 - Aug 2025)
- **Senior Data + Visuals Editor, Breaking News at CNN** (Feb 2022 - Jul 2022)
- **Senior Data + Visuals Editor, Climate at CNN** (May 2021 - Feb 2022)
- **Adjunct Instructor at Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY** (Jan 2017 - Dec 2021)
  I teach classes in online investigations, election reporting, machine learning for journalists, and the design and development of news products.
- **Graphics/Multimedia Editor at The New York Times** (Aug 2020 - Mar 2021)
  Built graphics and data projects for the online and print versions of the New York Times.
- **Investigations editor at Quartz** (Sep 2019 - May 2020)
  Launched and led a team at qz.com that pursued high-impact journalism through tenacious reporting, machine-learning techniques, and audience collaboration.
- **Technical Architect, Bots & Machine Learning at Quartz** (Jan 2019 - Sep 2019)
  Created and ran the Quartz AI Studio to help journalists at Quartz and other news organizations use machine learning for their reporting. Wrote and managed the Knight Foundation grant for that work.
- **Bot Developer and App Product Manager at Quartz** (Feb 2017 - Jan 2019)
  Led a unit devoted to experimenting with audience-focused news bots and conversational interfaces for chat and smart-speaker platforms.
- **Senior Editor, Data News at WNYC Radio** (Oct 2011 - Feb 2017)
  New York
  Created and led WNYC's Data News Team, which infused the station's journalism with data reporting and interactive news applications including maps, data visualizations, and SMS-based crowdsourcing projects.
- **Innovator In Residence, Reed College of Media at West Virginia University** (Jul 2015 - Jan 2016)
  Co-instructor for a sensor-journalism class called "Stream Lab." We deployed cheap water sensors housed in Gatorade bottles to pursue a story about water quality and document our successes and failures along the way.
- **Adjunct Professor, Journalism + Design Program at The New School** (Sep 2011 - Jun 2015)
  New York
  Co-taught a course about investigative reporting in the digital age in 2011, taught "Make, Map, Blink" about data-driven objects and projects and helped direct a class in investigating judicial candidates.
- **Senior Executive Producer for News at WNYC Radio** (Mar 2002 - Nov 2011)
  Led the local news division at one of the nation's premier public radio stations, expanding the station's breaking news capacity, investigative reporting efforts, election coverage, and journalism innovation. Intentionally increased the newsroom's racial and ethnic diversity.
- **Executive Producer, "On The Media" at WNYC Radio** (Sep 2006 - Jul 2010)
  Provided high-level supervision of a team of producers and hosts for this weekly radio program and podcast produced by WNYC and distributed by NPR.
- **Industry Coach at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford** (Mar 2007 - 2010)
  Collaborate with the folks at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University ... aka "the d.school."  Work with instructors and students on applying design-thinking to real-world settings, particularly media. (Non-employee partner/collaborator.)
- **Adjunct Lecturer at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism** (Mar 2009 - Jun 2009)
  Taught a class on radio news reporting.
- **Adjunct Professor at Columbia University  Graduate School of Journalism** (2001 - 2007)
  Taught radio journalism and documentary production, and was a Master's adviser, for several non-contiguous terms during this time period.
- **Executive Producer, Program Development at WNYC Radio** (Apr 2001 - Mar 2002)
  Led the station's website team and several on-air projects and show experiments.
- **Owner, Director, Producer at an Independent Multimedia Company** (Nov 1997 - Apr 2001)
  Led a radio-web-television production company with clients including WNYC Radio, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, PBS Online, WebLab, Discovery Channel Online, ABC/Discovery News, A&E Television Network, History Channel, National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio.
- **Science Editor at Discovery Channel Online** (Mar 1996 - Nov 1997)
- **Senior Producer of "Kinetic City Super Crew" at American Association for the Advancement of Science** (Jul 1992 - Mar 1996)
  Washington
  Co-created and co-directed this half-hour science adventure show for children’s radio.
  
  Winner of a George Foster Peabody Award.
- **Police Reporter at Racine Journal-Times** (Nov 1989 - Mar 1991)
- **General Assignment & Police Reporter at Wisconsin State Journal** (Jun 1987 - Nov 1989)

## Publications

- Family Projects for Smart Objects: Tabletop Projects That Respond to Your World — Make Media (Sep 2016) https://www.amazon.com/Family-Projects-Smart-Objects-Tabletop/dp/1680451235

## Skills

### Technical
- Data Analysis
### Business
- Blogging
- Data Visualization
### Creative
- Design Thinking
- Podcasting
- User Experience
### Other
- Analysis
- Breaking News
- Broadcast
- Digital Media
- Documentaries
- Editing
- GIS
- Investigative Reporting
- Journalism
- Newspaper
- Newspapers
- Radio Broadcasting
- Storytelling

## Awards

- The Pulitzer Prize (Apr 2021)
  Among the many New York Times staff members who helped to cover the coronavirus pandemic, work that won the paper the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Share a byline on one of the submitted stories, "How Full Are Hospital I.C.U.s Near You?"
- Breaking News Award (2012)
  “Hurricane Irene Threatens New York City” WNYC
- Breaking News Award (2011)
  “A Snow Storm Hits New York and WNYC Listeners Map the Cleanup” WNYC
- Ralph O. Nafziger Award (1998)
  Recognition for showing remarkable professional initiative and promise within 10 years of graduation.
- George Foster Peabody Award
  “Kinetic City Super Crew” AAAS

## Links

- linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkeefenyc