The Journalism Salute

On this episode we're joined by Jai Smith . Jai is the founder and editor-in-chief of Lehigh Daily. Lehigh Daily is a hyperlocal newsroom covering my community- the Lehigh Valley part of Pennsylvania. It has a presence not just as a website but as an Instagram account with 24,000 followers and a TikTok with 28,000 followers. And it's just over a year old. Jai explained why he started the n...

On this episode we're joined by Veda Thangudu. Veda will be a sophomore biology major at Purdue this fall. Veda is a part of the Youth Environmental Press Team (YEPT), an organization whose goal is to elevate the voices of middle school, high school, and college journalists writing about the environment and the climate crisis. The program exists in 7 states. Students are paid to participate. V...

On this episode we're joined by Angilee Shah . Angilee is the CEO and editor-in-chief of Charlottesville Tomorrow , a non-profit newsroom in Charlottesville, Virginia. A couple of years ago we interviewed someone from that newsroom, Erin O'Hare , in an interview that I've cited in every presentation I've done to students since. So I thought it would be good to talk to someone else...

On this episode we're joined by Hanaa' Tameez . Hanaa' is a staff writer for Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. Hanaa' and Nieman report on the future of journalism. She previously worked for the Fort Worth Star Telegram as its diversity reporter (one example here ). Hanaa is a 2016 graduate of Stony Brook University, where she was editor in chief of the school paper. She...

On this episode we're joined by José Ignacio Casta ñ eda Perez . He's a reporter for Spotlight Delaware , a local independent journalism non-profit. He's been there for the last year and a half. Previously he covered border issues for the The Arizona Republic and Underserved Communities for The Wilmington Delaware News Journal . He's specializing in reporting on immigration in Dela...

On this episode, Mark Simon speaks to Marcela García , associate editor and columnist for the op-ed page at The Boston Globe .  Marcela often writes about Latinx communities in Boston including in a newsletter she launched , ¡ Mira!, that is written in English and Spanish. She also writes some of the Globe's unsigned editorials. For that, she and two of her colleagues were finalists for this y...

On The Journalism Salute we interview journalists about who they are and what they do with the intent of showing that journalists are not the enemy. Today we're joined by Alan Tai . Alan just won the Journalism Education Association's Student Journalist of the Year award as a senior at Monta Vista High School in California. Alan talked about his experiences on the student newspaper, El Est...

On this episode we're joined by Alexandra Lange . She is a journalist, design critic, author and teacher. She was recently named the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner in criticism for a series of pieces at Bloomberg CityLab about designing cities for families. The judges wrote: For graceful and genre-expanding writing about public spaces for families, deftly using interviews, observations and analysi...

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by Ayaan Shah . He's the Pennsylvania Student Journalist of the Year and newly graduated from Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. Ayaan and I live in the same county- Lehigh County. Ayaan talked about his journalism interests. He shared the story of covering Joe Biden's appearance in his town and one interview from that experience that stood ou...

On this episode, we're joined by Justin Baxley . Justin is a journalist based in the south who just completed 3 years working as a digital content manager for 13 WMAZ in Macon, Georgia. He is in the process of transitioning to a new journalism job, but we wanted to talk to him now at the suggestion of Kristen Hare, our recent guest from the Poynter Institute.   Justin's father Michael was...

On this episode we're joined by Roberto Camacho . Roberto is Chicano (an American of Mexican heritage), a freelance journalist who often writes about issues impacting local immigrants, especially Chicanos but touches on other subjects too, like hip hop culture. He is based in San Diego and is a 2017 graduate of Arizona State University. Roberto talked about life as a freelancer, connecting wit...

On this episode we're joined by Mollie Simon . Mollie has been a research reporter for ProPublica for the last 5 years, working oftentimes behind the scenes on stories such as ones we've talked to past guests about. She's also been a newspaper reporter in South Carolina and a data researcher for LegiStorm. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia with dual degrees in public affai...

On this episode, we're joined by Tara García Mathewson . Tara is a bilingual reporter covering the intersection of education and technology, particularly the harms within them, both on a national and state level for The Markup and CalMatters . The Markup is a non-profit newsroom that challenges technology to serve the public good. A motto often within its stories is 'report deeply and fix...

On this episode we're joined by Daniel Newman . Daniel is a digital content producer for Cleveland Jewish News in Cleveland Ohio. He's an early-career journalist who also spent a year as a news reporter for the Tribune Chronicle in Warren, Ohio. He's a native of Youngstown, Ohio and a 2023 graduate of Cleveland State University, where he spent a year as news editor of the student newsp...

On this episode we're joined by Miranda Green . Miranda is a freelance investigative reporter based in Los Angeles. She was the director of investigations at Floodlight news covering corporations and political interests stalling climate action. She's also previously worked for Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Decode DC, CNN, the Hill, and Huffington Post. She's a graduate of George Washingto...

On our 221st episode, we're joined by Kristen Hare . Kristen is Poynter Institute's director of craft and local news. She teaches local journalists the skills they need to serve and cover their communities. Previously she covered the people of business and local news for Poynter. She's based near Tampa, Florida.  We covered a wide range of topics with Kristen, including what local news...

On this episode we're joined by Evan Urquhart . Evan covers anti-transgender propaganda and transgender news issues for Assigned Media ( AssignedMedia.org ), an organization he founded. He is also the community manager for Slate's comments section and is a freelance writer with many prominent bylines. And he's currently doing a Knight science writing fellowship at MIT. We interviewed E...

On this episode we're joined by Lizzy Lawrence . Lizzy covers the Food and Drug Administration for STAT News , a subscription-based part of Boston Globe's media newsroom owned by the Boston Globe that covers the frontiers of health and medicine. As they say- "We take you inside the science labs and hospitals, biotech boardrooms, and political backrooms. We dissect crucial discoveries....

On this episode we're joined by Lola Claire . Lola is a student at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas and the editor in chief of Hilltop Views , the student newspaper there. Lola is also the chair of the Title IX Student Advisory Board at the school. Lola is from southern Louisiana. She caught my attention because of something she's working on. Hilltop Views has a grant from the...

On this episode, we're joined by Denise Watson . Denise is an editor at WHRO Public Media in Norfolk, Virginia. For more than 30 years she was an award-winning writer and features and education editor for the Virginian-Pilot . She often writes about race and history. Additionally, she is a journalist in residence at William & Mary, teaching a masterclass there. And she is a fellow at the M...

On this episode, we're joined by Leanne Yoon . Leanne is the co-editor in chief of the Jets Flyover, the student news website of Daegu International School in South Korea, where she's in her junior year. Leanne also just started writing a column for Nutgraf News , a student journalism newsletter, and she founded High School Press Central, whose goal is to make student journalism accessible...

On this episode, we're joined by eight students who attended the College Media Association convention a series of mini-interviews that ran 2 to 3 minutes each. The students come from schools in Boston, Virginia, Ohio, and California In these interviews we talked about some of their early-career highlights, important lessons they learned, and how being a journalist impacted them as a person. St...

On this episode we're joined by Nada Hassanein . Nada is a staff writer and health care reporter for Stateline, covering state policy decisions with a focus on inequities. She's been with them for a year and a half. She has previously covered social issues for the Tallahassee Democrat and was also USA Today's national environmental and health inequities reporter. She is a 2015 graduate...

It's Scholastic Journalism Week - On this episode we're joined by Del Ellerton. Del is a journalism teacher at Midtown High School, formerly Grady High School, in Atlanta, where he's also the school's track and field coach (he previously coached football too) for a school that has won a bunch of city and region championships. Del is a Mississippi native whose experience includes 10...

In this episode, we're joined by Damaso Reyes . Damaso is both the executive and investigative editor at New York Amsterdam News , one of the oldest Black weeklies in the United States. Damaso has nearly 30 years of experience in journalism. Last year, he won the National Association of Black Journalists Ida B Wells Award. That's given to someone providing distinguished leadership in incre...