Cheree Franco

Cheree Franco joined the Desk in 2026 as a Report for America corps member. She is an award-winning print and photojournalist. She has profiled both a U.S. senator and the founder of OkCupid, covered South by Southwest and Sundance festivals, reported for three months from the Dakota Access Pipeline protest camps, followed the grassroots caretakers at New Orleans’ Lincoln Beach, and investigated a 20-year-old murder conviction in Arkansas, highlighting procedural errors and details that juries never heard. Her coverage ultimately helped the Innocence Project secure a woman’s release from a life sentence without parole. She has reported from New York, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Pakistan. Most recently, she taught journalism at Tulane University.