Daniel Axelrod
Daniel Axelrod’s Biography
As of 2025, Dan has nine years of full-time experience writing for newspapers and 14 years of full- and part-time experience (in-house and agency) in PR, marketing and social media management. Plus, he's taught (mostly part-time) 132 college credits of journalism, public relations, marketing, social media and human communications courses since 2009.
Altogether, Dan has won 15 journalism awards from statewide press associations in New York, New England, and Pennsylvania, three national fellowships and grants, and one scholarly prize for legal writing in law reviews. In his last full-time reporting role, Dan was Gannett’s syndicated NY business reporter. His work appeared statewide, and he contributed to USA Today and the NY Times.
As Gannett’s New York State business reporter, Dan primarily covered real estate, health-care and tech firms. He also often covered manufacturing, labor markets, finance, tourism, retail, restaurants, hospitality, leisure, gaming, and New York's other key industries. In other reporting positions at the Westmore News (Port Chester, NY), Old Colony Memorial (Plymouth, Mass.), Gardner News (Gardner, Mass.) and the Times Tribune (Scranton, Penn.), Dan covered the government, education, business and health-care beats.
Some of Dan's top stories have investigated the rise of opioid addiction and the ramifications of a Poconos building boom in Pennsylvania; nuclear security, the issues surrounding the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, and how chronic underfunding affected schools in Plymouth, Massachusetts; the environmental and quality of life issues caused by a Legoland amusement park in the Hudson Valley.
Dan holds a Syracuse University journalism M.A. and a University of Florida mass communications Ph.D. And he was a UF Graduate School Fellow, a Knight Digital Media Fellow at UC Berkeley and a Society of Professional Journalists' Ted Scripps Leadership Institute graduate.
In his spare time, Dan occasionally freelances stories for news outlets (particularly in-depth business, health-care and investigative pieces), leads the Society of Professional Journalists' national Media Ethics Committee, teaches college communications classes, and researches topics such as how to improve news ecosystems and how newspaper closures and staff cuts affect communities.
He also serves on nonprofit boards promoting the arts. And he uses his company, Unlimited News Service, for copywriting and consulting companies, nonprofits and communications agencies regarding PR, marketing and branding. Besides PR and MarCom agencies and nonprofits, Dan has shared his expertise with health-care, law, tourism, VC, PropTech/ClimateTech, aerospace and real estate firms.