The Journalism Salute

On this episode of The Journalism Salute, we’re joined by Jared Council . Jared is a senior editor at Forbes . He covers stories that touch on Black business, Black culture, and Black power. He’s a graduate of Hampton University who previously worked in Indiana and Virginia and also at the Wall Street Journal . He’s based in Philadelphia. Jared talked about his unlikely journalism origin story, on...

On this episode, we’re joined by Roxanne Scott . Roxanne is a senior producer for Futuro Media Group , an independent non-profit media organization producing multimedia journalism that gives a voice to the diversity of American experience. You may know it best for Latino USA and the person who runs the group, Maria Hinojosa Roxanne has previously worked as a reporter in Louisville and Atlanta. Pri...

On this episode we’re joined by Karen Hawkins . Karen is a longtime journalist and is currently a story editor for The 19 th *, a newsroom that operates at the intersection of gender, politics, and policy. She is also a board member for the NLGJA , the association of LGBTQ journalists, of which Karen is one. Additionally, she is the founder and rebelle in chief of Rebellious Magazine , which deliv...

On today’s show we’re joined by Bobbi-Jeanne Misick . She is the justice, race, and equity reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom , a collaboration between NPR and radio stations in WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana, WBHM in Alabama, and Mississippi Public Radio working with NPR. She has previously been an editor and writer for Essence and a reporter and producer in the Caribbean. Bobbi-Jeanne talked how...

On this episode, we’re joined by Erin O’Hare , the neighborhoods reporter for Charlottesville Tomorrow , a hyperlocal non-profit news website serving Charlottesville, Virginia (cvilletomorrow.org). Erin explained what a neighborhood reporter does in a city of about 45,000 people, everything from reporting on the changing demographics of neighborhoods to making zoning ordinances understandable, to...

On this episode we’re joined by Margo Snipe . Margo is a reporter for Capital B (CapitalBNews.org) covering critical issues affecting the mental and physical health of Black Americans. Capital B is a non-profit newsroom serving both local and national Black audiences. Margo talked about Capital B’s mission and how she comes up with story ideas. She went through examples of stories she had done, in...

On today’s show we’re joined by Amir Khafagy . Amir is a labor reporter for Documented – journalism created with and for immigrants and how policy affects their lives. He’s of Egyptian and Puerto Rican descent and grew up in a Muslim household. He’s with Documented as part of the Report for America Program. Amir talked about his working-class upbringing, his work as a student and labor organizer t...

On this episode, we’re joined by Raegan Miller . Raegan is a reporter for KRBD , a radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska. She covers Alaska Native and rural issues as part of the Report for America program. Raegan talked about making the transition from print to radio and covering stories in very small towns where she often gets recognized. She discussed about the kinds of stories she covered and how...

  Alain Stephens is the western correspondent for The Trace , an online newsroom that investigates gun violence in America. He’s been with them for nearly 4 years. He is based in San Diego. Alain has a background in law enforcement, military, and sociology – not your typical journalism path. He’s a graduate of the University of North Texas who served in both the Coast Guard and Air Force. And he i...

On this episode, I’m joined by Yanqi Xu . Yanqi is a reporter for the Flatwater Free Press in Omaha, Nebraska, the state’s first independent non-profit newsroom. She grew up in China and went to college in Beijing before getting her masters at Missouri. Yanqi talked about her journalism origin story and about the kind of work she does at the Free Press and described the challenges of doing long in...

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Kasha Patel. Kasha is the deputy weather editor for the Capital Weather Gang at the Washington Post, covering weather, climate, and the environment. Kasha talked about her path from NASA to her current position, how she covers both hard news stories and fun features, including fact checking a volcanic explosion in a The Lord of the Rings series. She also explain...

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Inez Russell Gomez . Inez is the editorial page editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican – notable that we haven’t talked to an editorial page editor or a New Mexican yet. Her journalism career spans more than 40 years, much of that in New Mexico. Inez talked about her journalism origin story and her present role both writing editorials and producing an editorial page...

On this episode we’re joined by Liz Robbins . Liz is currently the director of journalism partnerships for Define American , an organization whose goal is to humanize the immigrant experience in the media one story at a time. Prior to this job, Liz was a longtime reporter for the New York Times, first covering sports and then immigration. She’s also a journalism teacher and professor and wrote a b...

For our 100 th episode, we’re joined by Scott MacFarlane, who covers Congress and the January 6 aftermath for CBS News. Scott has been with CBS since January after leaving the NBC affiliate in DC. He’s covered Washington D.C. for nearly 20 years and has had a long career as an investigative journalist. His Twitter ( @macfarlanenews ) is the go-to source for information about every January 6 th cou...

On this episode, we’re joined by Nick Hirshon . Nick’s our first repeat guest. He’s an associate professor of communications at William Paterson University, a co-host of the Journalism History podcast , and is the editor of the upcoming issue of the academic journal – American Journalism . That’s our subject today. The issues looks at the history of investigative reporting, the hook being the 50 t...

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by Cyd Zeigler . Cyd is the co-founder of Outsports , a website covering LGBTQ+ issues in sports. He’s also the author/co-author of 3 books, most recently My Life On The Line: How the NFL Damn Near Killed Me and Ended Up Saving My Life by Ryan O’Callaghan. He’s broken many stories related to athletes coming out publicly regarding their sexuality and is a membe...

Trân Nguyễn is a bilingual investigative reporter and data journalist who has covered the Vietnamese community, homelessness and health care in Santa Clara County for the San Jose Spotlight via Report for America . She is a native of Saigon, Vietnam and grew up in an environment in which most media was state-sponsored. Now, she’s covering a city with the largest Vietnamese population in the United...

On this episode, Mark Simon talks to Alissa Quart . Alissa is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. The Economic Hardship Reporting Project funds and co-publishes reporting, supporting independent journalists who do stories that counteract typical narratives all related to inequality. It can be found at economichardship.org . Alissa talked about her career, provided ex...

On this episode, we salute and interview Donnell Suggs , editor-in-chief of The Atlanta Voice , which is the longest running and only Black newspaper in Atlanta.  Donnell has covered business, features, real estate, religion, and sports during his time in the industry. He’s a native of Brooklyn N.Y.  He talked about his time as a New York City police officer and why he decided he wanted to become...

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by Wesley Early , a reporter for Alaska Public Media, who covers city government and Anchorage life.  Wesley talked about his career, which has taken him through both large and small markers in Alaska, and the day-to-day duties of the job. He also explained how being Black in a state with a very small Black population plays a role in how he does his job. And h...

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by Jane Wolfe . Jane is a longtime journalist who has written 3 biographies, the most recent of which is titled Burl, Journalism Giant and Medical Trailblazer . It’s about Burl Osborne, a prominent journalist and newspaper publisher who had a distinguished career at the Associated Press and The Dallas Morning News . Jane talked about her career, about Burl’s l...

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by Ben Welsh , the visiting senior data journalist at Stanford University who is working on the project, Big Local News. He’s also been a longtime data journalism editor at the Los Angeles Times. Ben talked about his journalism origin story, the different projects he’s worked on, how Big Local News is helping to make data journalism accessible to smaller media...

On this episode, we salute John Vitti . John is a man of many skills. He’s been a layout, copy, and online editor/multi-platform editor for the sports department of the Boston Globe for 23 years. He’s also a high school journalism teacher, an elementary school newspaper advisor, and the founder of a journalism program for kids, Headliners in Education . John talked with Mark Simon about all of tho...

On this episode, we salute and interview Alexis Terrazas . He’s the editor in chief of El Tecolote (The Owl), a bilingual Latino newspaper that has served the San Francisco Bay Area Latino community since 1970. Prior to that, he wrote for Patch and the San Francisco Examiner.  Alexis shared his journalism origin story, explained the types of stories that El Tecolote covered, and detailed why he’s...

On today’s episode, we salute Katie Hawkins-Gaar .  Katie is a freelance writer and the founder of Digital Women Leaders , a mentoring program for women and non-binary people working in news who are looking for advice from someone who understands their experience. It’s a free program with dozens of coaches available for a 30-minute session. Katie also edits the newsletter, My Sweet Dumb Brain , a...