Career
Wolfe began her television career in Toronto at CTV's Canada AM. She was the Assistant Managing Editor at the Washington D.C. based foreign policy journal The National Interest.
Wolfe worked as a producer for Ted Koppel’s Nightline on ABC News for close to a dozen years, from 1990-2001. During this period, Wolfe conducted interviews with leading newsmakers, heads of state, and celebrities, including Salman Rushdie, Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Yasser & Suha Arafat, and Yitzhak Rabin. She received 5 Emmy Awards for news stories.
After a few years as independent media consultant, Wolfe helped found Intelligence Squared U.S.(IQ2US) an Oxford University style debate forum, together with Robert Rosenkranz of the Rosenkranz Foundation. The idea was to provide an in-depth view of both sides on any given issue and Wolfe claims that she was very influenced by Ted Koppel, who made an effort to include civil discourse in Nightline.
The first debate was held in September 2006 and included topics such as: "Obesity is the government’s business,” and “Too many kids go to college," "Would the World Be Better Off Without Religion?". The debates were broadcast on podcast and Forbes Magazine highlighted them as "one five podcasts that will change the way you think." In April 2023 it changed its name to Open to Debate, after Wolfe had left.
Advisory and research positions
In 2015 she joined the board of Retro Report, a documentary news organization, organized under the umbrella of Mirror/Mirror Productions, Inc., a New York not-for-profit corporation. In 2018, she joined the advisory board of the Global Reporting Centre, based at the University of British Columbia. The Centre collaborates with reporters and media organizations to spearhead ways to produce solutions-oriented journalism. Wolfe is also a contributing editor at InTELLects.co.
In 2019 and 2020, Wolfe was a Visiting Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. While at the Institute, she taught a course examining the history of U.S. debate and debate techniques, In Search of Intelligent Debate.
Documentary films
In 2020, Wolfe served as editorial producer for the documentary film and five-part series Lebanon: Borders of Blood. Produced by Zygote Films and winner of six Israeli Television and Motion Pictures Academy Awards, including Best Documentary Series, Borders of Blood examines the decades of unrest and tragedy that has plagued Lebanon since the mid-1970s.
Wolfe is also editorial producer and researcher for The Cassandra Prophecy, a 2022 documentary that tells the little-known story of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force investigating the billion dollar cocaine trafficking and money laundering activities of Hezbollah.
Awards
Emmy awards
1994 National News and Documentary Emmy Award Honors, Outstanding instant coverage of a single breaking news story, Nightline “The End of the Search for O.J. Simpson”
1995 News and documentary Emmy Award, Outstanding instant coverage of a single breaking news story, Nightline, "Oklahoma City Bombing: Moment of Crisis"
1996 News and documentary Emmy Award, Outstanding general coverage of a single breaking news story (program), Nightline, “Anatomy of the Unabomber Suspect's Arrest”
1998 National News breaking news story Emmy Award,Nightline, “Crisis in the White House: The President Visits the Heartland”
1999 News and Documentary Emmy Award, Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story, Nightline, "Lessons Learned: A Jonesboro Town Meeting"
IQ2US awards
IQ2US was announced as the 2015 winner of the Silver Radio Award for Best Public Affairs Program and the Bronze Radio Award for Best Regularly Scheduled Talk Program by New York Festivals.
In 2013, Wolfe and Intelligence Squared U.S. were recognized by the New York Festivals' World's Best Radio award, earning "Best Public Affairs Program" on radio.
They were recognized again in 2014 and 2015 with awards for Best Public Affairs Program and Regularly Scheduled Talk Program:
- Common Core (2015)
- Presidential War Powers (2015)
- Intelligence Squared (2014)
Other awards
- Alfred I. Dupont – Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcast journalism presented to: ABC News, Nightline Special Programs, The State vs. Simpson: The Verdict; Journey of a country Doctor; Town Meeting: Thou Shall Not Kill, 1995–1996, Dana Wolfe, Producer
- 2012 Silver Telly Award for Intelligence Squared U.S., TV/Political/Commentary
- 2013 Bronze Telly Award for TV/Political/Commentary, Intelligence Squared U.S.
- 2013 Silver Telly Award for Live Events, Intelligence Squared U.S.
- 2014 Association for Women in Communications Clarion Award for Radio Regular Feature Program, Intelligence Squared U.S.
