A Maverick among this year’s Pulitzer finalists
A University of Texas at Arlington alumna was among the finalists for a Pulitzer Prize, announced Monday by Columbia University.
Linah Mohammad (’17, Journalism and Broadcasting), a producer on All Things Considered on NPR, was recognized as a finalist in audio reporting for her work with former colleagues at The Washington Post on the six-part investigative podcast Broken Doors. Mohammad previously worked at the Post before returning to NPR a year ago.
The series critically examined how American law enforcement uses and misuses no-knock warrants. The Pulitzer board praised the podcast as a “powerful examination of the human toll of no-knock warrants across the country, using the voices of police, judges and the victims of the surprise raids, reporting that led to policy changes and, in one case, to prosecutors dropping a death penalty request.”
“What I really care about is producing impactful journalism,” Mohammad said. “Knowing that after this work was published changes were made in different places means a lot more to me than all of the awards in the world.”
Mohammad immigrated to Arlington from Jordan in 2012 as a high school senior. She started at Tarrant County College and transferred to UTA to complete her degree. She said she had planned on being a journalist since the eighth grade and felt confident that UTA was the right place for her because of its “robust TV program, a radio station and a student newspaper. I knew I was making the right decision.”
At UTA, she was involved with the Arabic Language and Culture Organization. Mohammad also worked briefly at The Shorthorn before finding her way, and her calling, at UTA Radio. She became a reporter and eventually started anchoring the newscast twice a week.
“That was the turning point,” she said. “I found this beauty in leaving everything at the door of the studio. When you put your headphones on, nothing else matters outside these few minutes that you will be on live air.”
Lance Liguez, faculty advisor for UTA Radio, recalled that Mohammad’s dream was to be a foreign correspondent.
“We told her: ‘You have an opportunity to work on your dreams right here. This is a place to start,’” Liguez said. “She jumped into it headfirst and was just a sponge for everything she could learn.”
While still in college, Mohammed landed an internship at KERA-FM in Dallas, the city’s NPR affiliate. She turned that into an internship with NPR in Washington, D.C., before taking a job at The Washington Post, where she worked on the Broken Doors series. She recently returned to NPR, where she now works as a producer on the station’s national morning program.
Mohammad credits Liguez and other UTA professors in communication, political science and history for helping her stay on track, even when she was doubting her abilities.
“Without my professors pushing me to keep going and do better, I don’t think I would be here today,” she said. “If it weren’t for Lance and his support, I don’t think this would have happened. The sense of community at UTA, in my eyes, is what makes it so unique.”
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