On this episode we’re joined by Monica Samayoa. Monica is a climate reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) and is co-chair of the steering committee for The Uproot Project, a network of environmental journalists of color.

Monica did not expect to become a climate reporter and filled us in on the path that took her to this job. She walked us through the different kinds of stories she covered, with examples. She included tips for aspiring radio reporters as well (“record at all times!”).

She also explained the purpose of The Uproot Project and why its existence is so important.

Monica’s salute: Meerah Powell, higher education reporter at OPB

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

On this episode, we’re joined by Idaho Capital Sun reporter Mia Maldonado.

Mia never took a journalism class in college but was able to start her career as part of the Voces Internship of Idaho program, which coordinates internships for aspiring Latino/Latina journalists with local newsrooms.

Mia talked about her time as an intern at the Capital Sun and as a breaking news reporter at the Idaho Statesman. She recounted some of the prominent stories she’s covered and talked about how being a journalist has influenced her worldview (and led to her getting a dog). She also explained the importance of the Voces program to her career.

We were also joined by Ximena Bustillo, a reporter for NPR and co-founder of the Voces Internship program along with journalist Nicole Foy. Ximena explained the origin story of the program, why this program was needed, and what the program’s goals are moving forward

Voces on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vocesinternship

Mia’s Salute: Investigative Reporters & Editors

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

On this episode we’re joined by Tim Whitaker. Tim has been a teacher and a journalist and is the executive director of Mighty Writers.

Mighty Writers is a Philadelphia-based non-profit that teaches 3,500 kids per year to think clearly and write with clarity. It works out of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

Tim talked about the highlights from his lengthy career as a journalist in Philadelphia, most notably as editor of Philadelphia Weekly Magazine. He explained the transition to running a non-profit and shared the work that Mighty Writers does in helping kids.

Tim’s Salutes: The Philadelphia Citzen, The Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY Radio

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

On this episode, we’re joined by Laurie Ezzell Brown. She was the publisher and editor of The Canadian Record, a community weekly covering Hemphill County in the northeastern Texas Panhandle from 1893 to 2023, and a legacy business owned and published by the Ezzell family since the late 1940s.

Laurie spoke about being born into her journalism origin story and provided an oral history of the Ezzell family and how the small, rural newspaper lasted so long before publication was just suspended (however it lives on, for now, on Facebook.

She explained the relationship between her newspaper and how the residents of a town that voted nearly 90% for Donald Trump in both elections were upset at her decision to suspend publication. And she shared how a newspaper can make a community matter to itself.

Laurie’s salutes: The Daily Yonder, The Rural Blog

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

On this episode, we’re joined by Sarah Spicer. Sarah is a news editor for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). She was just named to Editor & Publisher’s “25 Under 35.” Sarah is a graduate of Emporia State University in Kansas, where she was editor-in-chief of her school paper, as well as Columbia School of Journalism.

Sarah talked about her current role and the work that CPJ does to fight for reporter’s rights and safety worldwide (the organization helped free 130 journalists in 2022). She also shared her journalism origin story and walked us through the award-winning team coverage she was a part of at Emporia State exposing a Title IX 12a4-11e8-ae04-2bc96f098e87.html">sexual assault cover-up involving a tenured professor and a student. She spoke about her time in the Report for America program covering climate change and what a polarizing topic that was in Kansas.

Sarah also discussed the dangers of being a journalist in 2023, gave advice for aspiring journalists specific to finding a niche, and told us about some of her other projects, including a memoir about her life and the navigation of Kansas’ foster care system.

Sarah’s salutes: Nellie Bly, Dorothy Thompson, Emily Atkin, Zoya Teirstein.

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

On this episode, we’re joined by Tiffany Tan, a reporter for the non-profit VTDigger who covers southwest Vermont. Tiffany’s career has taken her around the globe, in the Philippines as a TV producer, in Singapore and China as a writer and editor. She’s worked in the United States in both South Dakota and Vermont.

Tiffany talked about her reporting experiences both abroad and in the United States. She explained the mission of VTDigger and why doing this kind of work was important to her. She also walked us through the process of covering stories, including a local sheriff who moved to Tennessee(!) and a criminal case that lasted more than 30 years.

Tiffany’s salutes: Katharine Graham and Maria Ressa.

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by Luella Brien. Luella is the editor-in-chief at Four Points Press, an independent media company which covers the Crow Indian Reservation in southern Montana. Luella also teaches high school journalism and has taught college in the past too. She was the primary narrator in the new Showtime docu-series, Murder in Big Horn.

Luella talked about her passion for journalism from a young age, how she hopes to grow her non-profit to tell both contemporary stories and those lost to history. the importance of Native representation on big projects like Murder In Big Horn, and what her teaching experience has been like.

Luella’s salute: Native journalist Hattie Kauffman

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

On this episode, 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, one that began with he and his brother filming local rap battles. He discussed how he got basically a business school education with the work he’s done at his different jobs.

Jared went in-depth on two pieces – one that was part of a Pulitzer Prize finalist package for the Wall Street Journal about the insurance exclusions for Black residents that came after the Tulsa Race Massacre. The other, also with a history focus, was on past Black women who had been passed over for Supreme Court nominations.

You can find Jared’s current work here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredcouncil/

Jared’s salutes:

Justin Tinsley, Andscape

Jordyn Holman, New York Times

Dominic Madori, Tech Crunch

Richard Prince, veteran journalist

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

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. Prior to being a journalist she was a teacher – in Costa Rica, Mexico, and China.

Roxanne talked about the multi-faceted role she has in investigative pieces that Futuro Media produces, using as an example of an investigative report on problematic U.S. policies for border patrol dealing with migrants in the Arizona desert.

Roxanne also talked about some of her other written and audio work, including a story about “poo and doo” and problematic sewers in Queens, N.Y., how public records were vital to her work tracking COVID cases in an ICE facility in Georgia, and how wind turbines in Louisville were important to farmers in Nigeria.

Roxanne also discussed the value of voice memos and what journalism taught her about being a more proactive person.

Roxanne’s salutes:

Gil Noble

Gwendolyn Brooks

The Ida B. Wells Society

Amsterdam News

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

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 delivers a unique feminist perspective on Chicago news, politics and culture. She is also the former co-publisher and co-editor in chief of the Chicago Reader and the co-host of a podcast about mental health.

Karen shared her journalism origin story, talked about what her job as a story editor entails and how she approaches the editing process. She talked about her future hope for The 19^th*, which is that it continues leaning into the asterisk and is inclusive of marginalized groups, and the year ahead for the NLGJA.

She also shared trends she’s noticed in coverage of the LGBTQ community, reminisced about her time at the Chicago Reader, and told the story of her passion projection, Rebellious.

Karen’s salutes:

The first African-American writer to publish a short story, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Journalist, author, teacher Jamal Jordan and Derrick Clifton

Journalism Websites: The Triibe, City Bureau, Scalawag

The NLGJA Mentoring Program

 Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.