Summary
Melissa McClinton, MFA, professionally known as Safiya Songhai, is an Emmy award-winning story-teller whose career spans fiction film directing, documentary producing, multi-part news magazine programs, television talk shows, and investigative broadcast journalism.
Songhai led newscasts as an anchor woman covering local and international stories in New York City, the nation’s top television market. Her investigative journalism career examines crime and justice, political activism, American Civil Rights movements, redress of police brutality and corruption, as well as biographical profile pieces of historical trailblazers.
In 2014, Songhai debuted as a political commentator for CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront, discussing topics concerning racial profiling, the George Zimmerman trial, police brutality and the impact of the murder of Trayvon Martin. As a television producer, Songhai hosted a five-part PBS series on the legacy of Brown vs. the Board of Education and produced the undercover prison-cell footage for the 2-hour Dateline special on the BTK Killer. As an anchor/reporter at KQ2 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Songhai covered the local eclectic interests and triumphs of mid-western natives in the rural heartland.
The release of her documentary short, Interception: Jayne Kennedy: American Sportscaster, chronicles the racial tensions surrounding the 1978 hire of the first African-American female sportscaster at CBS NFL TODAY, and the effort to sabotage Kennedy’s success at the network. This film has won 52 awards since its release in 2023 and has been accepted into more than 170 film festivals nationwide.
As a fiction filmmaker, Songhai trailed under such legends as "To Sir, With Love" author E.R. Braithwaite, "For Colored Girls" author Ntozake Shange, "Sankofa" director Haile Gerima, Oscar nominee John Singleton and Oscar award winner Spike Lee. In addition to film school, Songhai also prepared for her fiction film directing career as a scholarship recipient to the Upright Citizens Brigade for sketch and improv comedy writing.
Themes explored in Songhai’s fiction film work include modernization of religious parables, spiritual warfare on the physical plane, supernatural psychological thrillers, the agony of unrequited love, unconventional romantic pairings and family structures.
As Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies are burgeoning, Songhai has advanced the efforts of incorporating the three-act structure of storytelling on the 360º terrain. She presented her research on ‘Storytelling with Immersive Media’ at the National Association of Broadcasters, Gals n’ Gear, and the American Association College & University Professors' Transforming Stem Higher Education Conference.
A professional film producer, Songhai facilitates development, fundraising, and distribution for an array of genres of independent filmmakers.
The proud Philadelphia native, is a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University and a magna cum laude graduate of the MFA program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film and Television.
Courses taught
- JOUR 208: Media Production
- JOUR 307: Multimedia Reporting and Writing
- JOUR 318: Narrative: The Art of Storytelling
- JOUR 330: Scriptwriting
- JOUR 340: Intermediate Media Production
- JOUR 423: Newscast Production
- JOUR 440/640: Advanced Media Production
- JOUR 756: Storytelling II: Multimedia
Recent work
- Producer, "," feature documentary, director Amber Monét, 2026
- Executive Producer, "Tu Cabello and The Crown Act," documentary short, co-producer Claudia Cruz, 2025
- Associate Producer, "Rock Island Prison 1864," fiction short, director Joy Shannon, 2025
- Executive Producer, Director, Editor, "Interception: Jayne Kennedy • American Sportscaster," documentary short, 2023
- Producer, "Senior Cut Days," feature fiction film, director Alvin Gray, 2023
- Chapter Contributor, "Lies 推荐杏吧原创 Black People," Written by Dr. Omékongo Dibinga, Ph.D., Foreword by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D., 2023
Recent service
- Graduate Faculty, Reynolds School of Journalism, 2020 - present
- Master's Degree Admissions Committee, Reynolds School of Journalism, 2020 - present
- Chair, Cultural Diversity Committee, Action Plan document, 2022 - present
- Planning Committee, Northern Nevada Diversity Summit, 2023 - present
- Selection Committee, McCulloch Award, Reynolds School of Journalism, 2025 - present
- Dissertation Committee, Ph.D. Candidate, 2021 and 2026
Selected service
- Member, Personnel Committee, Reynolds School of Journalism, 2022 - 2025
- Mentor, Pack Research Experience Program (PREP), 2024
- Member, Curriculum Committee, Honors College, 2022 - 2023
- Advisor, Vibrant Voices, 2022 - 2024
- Advisor, M.A. Candidates, 2021 and 2023
- Member, Professional Development Leave Committee, 2021 - 2024
- Member, Technology Committee, 2020 - 2023
Education
- M.F.A in Film and Television Production, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts - Kanbar Institute of Film & Television
- B.A. in Film Production, Mass Communications, Howard University, John H. Johnson School of Communications
- Pursued B.A. in Film and Media Studies, Creative Writing, Dartmouth College