Ottavia Spaggiari is the new Florida A&M University School of Journalism & Graphic Communication (FAMU SJGC) Endowed Chair in Journalism. An award-winning investigative journalist and long-form writer, she’s making an impact on the global journalism community and creating a lasting impression on students learning from her expertise.
Spaggiari recently co-authored an international investigation on how migrant children in Europe are systematically separated from their families.
Her work “Stranded Between Borders: Europe’s Broken System for Reuniting Refugee Families” was published by Solomon, one of Europe’s leading independent investigative outlets. The award-winning investigative media organization based in Athens, Greece, is committed to producing journalism that serves the public interest.
Alongside co-authors Isobel Thompson and Lydia Emmanouilidou, Spaggiari takes readers on a cross-border investigation reported from Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom. The investigation sheds light on the trials vulnerable youth face.
The article explores:
- The long wait for asylum and the trauma of loneliness and language barriers for children fleeing war and persecution.
- Bureaucracies and policies that delay or prevent family reunification.
- The additional dangers fleeing children face in their journeys, including kidnapping, torture, imprisonment, and slavery.
The project was developed with support from Journalismfund Europe and the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) fund, two of the most prominent foundations supporting independent journalism in Europe. The full story is available here.
Spaggiari teaches “Social Justice Thought & The Media” at FAMU SJGC. Her professional work has appeared in The Guardian, The New Yorker, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian, and other outlets. Her long-form reporting on human traffickers’ impunity in Italy was shortlisted for the 2021 European Press Prize in the “Distinguished Reporting” category, and the rights to that piece were recently optioned for screen adaptation.
In 2023, she co-wrote a feature on the brutal crackdown against peaceful protesters in Belarus following the 2020 elections, which received the Amnesty Media Award for Best Feature.
About the co-authors:
- Isobel Thompson is a freelance journalist who has worked with The Economist, The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and Audible. She was formerly an editor and writer in Vanity Fair’s London office.
- Lydia Emmanouilidou is an independent multimedia reporter. She began her career with NPR’s Investigations unit, contributing to an award-winning series. Most recently, she served as a staff reporter for The World, based in Athens as a foreign correspondent.
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