Joel Engardio
Joel Engardio was a guest columnist for the San Francisco Examinerexternal_link_10 and has written for the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and P.O.V. magazine. He has written essays broadcast on NPR’s "This I Believe" series external_link_11 and KQED-San Francisco’s "Perspectives".external_link_12 Engardio wrote, narrated and directed "Knocking", a documentary on Jehovah’s Witnesses that was nationally broadcast on the PBS series "Independent Lens".external_link_13 It was named Best Documentary at the USA Film Festival.external_link_14 Engardio began his career at ABC News in New York working as an associate producer for the newsmagazine 20/20. He appeared on camera with host Hugh Downs in a segment about aging that compared the cognitive abilities of then-25-year-old Engardio and 76-year-old Downs.external_link_15 Engardio's San Francisco Examiner column won the 2016 Excellence in Journalism Award for Commentary by the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California. Engardio also won the first place award for feature columns and commentary every year from 2015 to 2021 by the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club. He won first place in columns/criticism at the 2014 Freelance Journalism Awards sponsored by the Pacific Media Workers Guild.external_link_16 Engardio won a national opinion writing award at the 2010 American Academy of Religion Journalism Awards. His short film "Voices from Guantanamo" received the Global Justice Award at the 2010 Media That Matters Film Festival, with screenings in New York and London.external_link_17 His film "Knocking" was named Best Documentary at the 2006 USA Film Festival. Engardio was the recipient of the 2000 National Press Foundation award for science writing. In 2003, his opinion writing was recognized with a first place award by the Society of Professional Journalists in Northern California. He was a finalist for the Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award in 2000. Engardio graduated from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government in 2011 with a Master in Public Administration. He attended Harvard on a full-tuition scholarship from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. His undergraduate degree is from Michigan State University, where he majored in journalism and history. He was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan. Engardio currently lives in San Francisco with his husband Lionel Hsu. Engardio was appointed to the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee in July 2015 and served until July 2016.external_link_18 The DCCC is the governing body for San Francisco's local democratic party. In 2016, Engardio was the only candidate endorsed by both the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner in his race for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.external_link_19 Engardio finished second in a field of five candidates. He was the first openly gay supervisor candidate to run in San Francisco’s conservative District 7, where half the voters in some precincts supported a 2008 ban on same-sex marriage. In 2020, Engardio ran again for San Francisco supervisor to represent District 7. He finished first among seven candidates. He was also endorsed again by the San Francisco Chronicle. While Engardio won the most first-choice votes, he narrowly lost the race under ranked choice voting after the final reallocation of votes.external_link_20
Engardio serves on the board of directors of San Francisco's United Democratic Club and Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club. Engardio is executive director of the non-profit group Stop Crime SF.external_link_21 Engardio's documentary film "Knocking" explored how the unpopular religion of Jehovah's Witnesses played a major role in First Amendment history, setting Supreme Court precedents that expanded individual liberties for all Americans. In interviews, Engardio said "Knocking" is not about the theology of Jehovah's Witnesses but instead uses the religion as a case study to examine how disparate and disagreeable groups can hold their unique beliefs without marginalizing or limiting the freedom of others. "We may not be each others' cup of tea," Engardio said on NPR, "but tolerance allows a variety of kettles to peacefully share the stove." "Knocking" won several film festival awards including Best Documentary at the USA Film Festival and was covered in Newsweek, USA Today and newspapers across the United States. Entertainment Weekly named it "What to Watch." "Knocking" was broadcast in the United States on PBS. It was also broadcast in Australia, Canada, Greece and Israel. "Knocking" was released on DVD in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Korean. Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses said the film did not deal harshly enough with controversies surrounding the religion, like the practice of shunning. Engardio told film festival audiences that "Knocking" contained criticism organic to the film's story. Engardio has written Washington Post essays critical of Jehovah's Witness practices, including shunning external_link_22 and refusal of blood transfusions.external_link_23 Engardio has also written essays for the Washington Post and USA Today about civil rights issues involving Jehovah's Witnesses outside the scope of his film. Most notable was the 2010 ruling by a federal judge that overturned California's ban on gay marriage, in which the key legal precedent cited by the judge was a 1943 Supreme Court case won by Jehovah's Witnesses.external_link_24 Another Washington Post essay by Engardio warns that a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is a dangerous precedent that could lead to the loss of freedoms for other unpopular groups in Russis.external_link_25
Career
Joel P. Engardio (born September 17, 1972) is a local news columnist in San Francisco.external_link_1