ABOUT

MY VERY SHORT BIO:

I am currently the editor of Talking Joints Memo, New England’s leading news and culture site covering cannabis and psychedelics

I am a co-founder of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism

MY LESS SHORT BIO:

Chris Faraone is an award-winning journalist (AAN, NENPA), a former Boston Phoenix Staff Writer and Editor of DigBoston, and former adjunct professor of communications at Salem State University. He has more than a decade of media experience, has published four books on his own imprint, and has written features for publications ranging from The American Prospect to BuzzFeed. He co-founded the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, and has also co-written books with legendary hip-hop acts including Cypress Hill and Raekwon.

MY RESUME/CV:

EDUCATION

Boston University College of Communication, Boston, MA (2005)

  • M.S. in Print Journalism

New School for Social Research Graduate Faculty, New York, NY (2002)

  • Matriculating Coursework in Cultural Reporting & Criticism

Hobart College, Geneva, NY (2001)

  • B.A. in Psychology & African-American Studies

TEACHING

Salem State University (September 2015 – December 2016)

VISITING LECTURER

  • Taught Introduction to Communications (one section)

REPORTING AND EDITING

Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (June 2015 – Present)

CO-FOUNDER + EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

  • Started grassroots media institute that has seeded similar independent incubators in other states
  • Produced multiple major feature a month from the start, earning accolades for from privacy advocacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation among others
  • Successfully attracted attention from the likes of Nieman Lab, the Washington Post, Guardian UK, Politico, Columbia Journalism Review, and many other outlets for our initiatives
  • Attracted funding from the Reva and David Logan Foundation among other institutional donors

DigBoston (April 2013 – Present)

NEWS + FEATURES EDITOR

  • Returned site and newspaper to position as recognizable force in the hard news arena
  • Manage digboston.com; source, report, and edit everything from tweets and blog posts to long form enterprise pieces
  • Conduct workshops for investigative reporters; field, develop, and edit feature stories
  • Conceptualize dynamic print spreads and infographic layouts; organize teams around multimedia feature projects
  • Serve as institutional memory and guide regarding all political and municipal matters

Boston Phoenix (September 2008 – March 2013)

STAFF WRITER

  • Covered range of social justice issues including protests, privacy, and urban violence
  • Produced feature stories on a vast range of topics ranging from political corruption to the future of music and reading
  • Wrote more than a dozen cover stories and more than 50 features of in excess of 1,000 words.

Boston’s Weekly Dig (September 2004 – September 2008)

STAFF WRITER

  • Covered city hall in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville; covered Massachusetts State House
  • Reported on gay marriage, redistricting, casino gambling, fair elections, municipal races, etc.
  • Covered Boston Police Department, and wrote some of the first stories on compromised resident and municipal data

CONTRIBUTOR CREDITS

Esquire | Boston Herald | Buzzfeed | Spin | The Source | Racialicious | American Prospect | UTNE Reader | In These Times | Columbia Journalism Review | Boston Magazine | Creative Loafing | Orlando Weekly | East Bay Express | Fast Company | New York Press

BOOKS

  • 99 Nights with the 99 Percent: Dispatches from the first three months of the Occupy revolution (WTP, 2012)
  • Heartbreak Hell: Searching for sanity in Boston through a week of tragedy & terror (WTP, 2013)
  • I Killed Breitbart … and countless other causes of conservative consternation (WTP, 2013)
  • Hizzonnaroo: The fervent fete and street fight to replace a Boston patriarch (WTP, 2014)

AWARDS

Association of Alternative Newsmedia

  • Best News Story – SECOND PLACE (2010)
  • Best Investigative Reporting – HONORABLE MENTION (2011)
  • Best Editorial Layout – SECOND PLACE (2014)
  • Best Column – SECOND PLACE (2020)

New England Newspaper & Press Association

  • Reporting on Religious Issues – FIRST PLACE (2009)
  • General News Story – FIRST PLACE (2010)
  • Investigative Reporting – SECOND PLACE (2012)

I have written and published thousands of reviews and articles, but there have also been a few written about me and projects I’ve been involved with. Here are some of them …