Winston’s courses examine religion, spirituality and ethics in relationship to journalism, entertainment media, American history and foreign policy. Her class on international religion reporting has taken students to cover conflict and coexistence in Israel and Palestine, growing secularism in Ireland, and elections in India. In addition to partnering with Global Post and KPCC, she has helped students place their work in various outlets including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Atlantic.

Her course “Hollywood, Faith and Media” has hosted prominent writers and directors. Her other courses include “American Religion, Foreign Policy and the News Media”; “American Spirituality: Radicals, Rebels, and Freethinkers”; and “Jesus is My Homeboy: An Introduction to American Religious History.” 

As the Knight Center Chair, Winston organizes conferences on religion’s role in the media. Convenings have explored post-9/11 television and the war on terror; religion and electoral politics; Arab democracy in the post-Arab Spring era; Syrian refugee crisis; and the issue of capital punishment.

Her new book, Writing the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision will be out fall 2023.  She also has authored and edited several books, including Red Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army, Faith in the Market: Religion and Urban Commercial Culture, Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion, The Oxford Handbook of American News and Religion, and Religion in Los Angeles: Religious Activism, Innovation, and Diversity in the Global City.

Winston holds a PhD from Princeton University in Religion, and master’s degrees from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Harvard Divinity School.

As a reporter, Winston worked for The Baltimore Sun, Dallas Times Herald and Raleigh News and Observer. She has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets.

Awards and honors: 

Visions and Voices award, “Waging Peace in Vietnam,” Photography Exhibit and Panel Discussion, 2021
Visions and Voices award, “Last of the Polish Jews,” Film and Panel Discussion, 2018
Visions and Voices award, “Dead Man Walking the Journey Continues,” keynote by Sr. Helen Prejean, and “Windows on Death Row” art exhibition, 2015
Advisory Board, International Consultation on Media, Religion, and Culture, 2014