Bio

Born and raised in the high desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jake Duffy’s introduction to journalism came during his Sophomore of high school after an English teacher suggest he join the high school newspaper’s opinion section after reading a collection of his free writing exercises for class.

Jake has naturally gravitated towards stories with historical depth, cultural resonance, and direct impact with a devotion to elevating the people, topics, and themes often left to the wayside in traditional narratives about communities like his own or wholly different.

In 2018, he’d move to Salt Lake City, Utah to complete a B.A. in Political Science with a specialization on International Politics with a concentration on Violence & Terrorism from The University of Utah in 2023. During his undergraduate studies he was a member of the John Price Think Tank focusing on Eygpt, Zambia, and the Ivory Coast. He was also a student reporter The Daily Utah Chronicle.

His journalism career would launch as a local reporter for KUER / NPR Utah covering small businesses, climate change, and local politics across Salt Lake City before moving on to document water policy for news briefs for The Salt Lake Tribune’s climate desk. Moving to New York City in 2024 he would quickly climb the ranks to work as an associate producer on The Don Lemon Show scripting interviews for recording with prominent figures like Sam Harris, Candace Owens, James Comey, Senator Cory Booker, Dr. Cornel West, and Whoopi Goldberg. He would later join FRONTLINE PBS editorial team to work intimately on documentaries The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram and Syria’s Detainee Files fact-checking reporting, vetting sources, funding, and ethical considerations for projects.

In 2025, Jake would spend two months living and reporting for New Narratives and Front Page Africa in Liberia. Working in tandem with local reporters he further developed his beat of reporting using multimedia platforms on the climate impacts on hidden international communities. Covering subjects such as the carbon capture market, deforestation, environmental & animal conservation. He also produced a short independent documentary following two Liberian surfers living in a small fishing community in northern Liberia as rising tides and an invasive seaweed disrupted both their livelihoods and cultural ties to the sea. The project helped shape his focus on how environmental change threatens historical communities; particularly in the global south, as their traditions, and ways of life are confronted first with the global implications of climate change. Upon returning he would complete a M.A. in Journalism at The Craig Newmark Graduate of Journalism at CUNY in 2025 with a concentration on International Reporting and Documentary Filmmaking.

Today, Jake works as a freelance journalist covering communities across the United States and the globe.