2026 Keynote speakers

The ACP National College Media Conference will feature three days of excellent keynotes, each uniquely suited to the current state of journalism. Don’t miss out on your chance to hear from industry leaders, excellent student journalists and more! 

Information will be added as speakers are confirmed.

Thursday keynote: Panel on covering protests

Delfino Camacho, of Compton, is the Long Beach Current arts editor who has covered approximately six protests, mostly in the Los Angeles area. He has done presentations on staying safe while covering sometimes violent demonstrations. He has been tear gassed, pepperballed and has been hit with more rubber bullets than he can count. The journalism major will graduate in May.

David DeBolt has spent 15-plus years working for daily newspapers in the region as an editor and reporter. He covered a variety of beats as a reporter, specializing in breaking news and accountability reporting, primarily in Oakland and Contra Costa County. During his decade-plus career at the Bay Area News Group — which publishes the East Bay Times and San Jose Mercury News — he covered Oakland City Hall, the Raiders stadium saga and the A’s search for a new ballpark, as well as the Oakland Police Department and police reform efforts. He also covered politics and criminal justice for about a year at online news site the Oaklandside. He was part of the East Bay Times staff honored with the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News for coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire.
Thadeus Greenson is a press education specialist at the First Amendment Coalition. He joined FAC after two decades of local journalism in Humboldt County, including the last 11 years as news editor of the North Coast Journal, overseeing all aspects of news coverage and reporting on a range of local government issues. His contributions to advancing government transparency through journalism are widely recognized: He is a two-time recipient of the James Madison Award given by the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California, the winner of a California News Publishers Association Freedom of Information Award and Access Humboldt’s Ray of Sunshine Legacy Award honoree. Greenson is also a lecturer at Cal Poly Humboldt, where he co-designed an investigative journalism course. 
Sierra Lopez is a Bay Area News Group reporter covering Contra Costa County for the Mercury News and East Bay Times. She grew up in the foothills of the Central Valley before moving to San Francisco to earn a BA in journalism with a minor in international relations from San Francisco State University. She previously reported for the San Mateo Daily Journal.
Brontë Wittpenn is an Emmy award-winning photojournalist, writer and filmmaker. Having grown up in Montana, Wittpenn has remained committed to photographing rural America and the depth of the people who call it home. Her vision focuses on using photography and multimedia storytelling to help inform viewers on the greatest issues of our time. Throughout her ten years in photojournalism, Wittpenn has worked to use her craft to encourage viewers to take a moment to connect to those in her stories, to be curious about the places and spaces that are different than their own. It is her hope that her work can be a portal to deeper empathy and understanding at a time of great political divide in nation. 

Friday keynote: Emilio Garcia-Ruiz

Emilio Garcia-Ruiz is the Editor in Chief of the San Francisco Chronicle, the leading news source in the Bay Area. The Chronicle focuses its coverage on the issues critical to its readers, including health, homelessness, income inequality, climate change and its deadly consequences and the area’s world-class food and wine scene. Emilio joined the Chronicle in September 2020 after spending the last 19 years at The Washington Post. His final role at The Post was as Managing Editor for Digital, where he oversaw the development and execution of digital strategy, supervising more than 350 journalists. He edited the 2000 Pulitzer prize-winning investigation by the St. Paul Pioneer Press that uncovered academic fraud in the University of Minnesota men’s basketball program. His career includes editing at the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times.

Saturday keynote: Theo Baker

Credit: Elena Seibert
Theo Baker is an undergraduate at Stanford University. His reporting led to former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s resignation and made Baker the youngest-ever recipient of the prestigious George Polk Award. His debut book HOW TO RULE THE WORLD will be published by Penguin Press in May 2026. Baker’s other writing has appeared in The Atlantic, New York Magazine, The New York Times, and elsewhere. His reporting has been honored with the Dan Rather Medal for News and Guts, the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, and the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence, among other honors. Baker will graduate from Stanford in June 2026.