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 investigative pieces.

You can find her work at: https://flatwaterfreepress.org/author/yxu/

Yanqi’s salute: The 19th(19thNews.org) and MLK50.org

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

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 explained how she comes up with story ideas, her use of TikTok, and how her writing jokes for her stand-up comedy work comes together with her science education interest.

Kasha’s salute: The D.C. Science Writers Association

Find Kasha's stories here

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/kasha-patel/

You can hear me interview Kasha about her comedy work here

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

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. She also discussed the special relationship that her newspaper has with the city of Santa Fe.

Inez’s salute: The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government

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

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 book about the New York City Marathon.

Liz talked about her career and her goal of humanizing the people in the many features she wrote. She also explained the goals of Define American and explained the day-to-day work that she is doing for that organization, including best practices regarding language and the use of anonymous sources.

Liz’s salute: Documented NY

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

For our 100th 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 6th court case.

Scott talked about how he keeps track of all the January 6th cases and why he puts such a strong emphasis on the under-the-radar cases. He explained the challenge of keeping his reactions to what he’s seen and heard in check, how he makes his social media coverage differentiating, and why the most important lesson he’s learned in his career is one about fairness.

Scott’s salute: Alex Silverman, Director of News and Programming, KNX Radio, Los Angeles.

To read a transcript of this episode, click here.

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

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 50th anniversary of the Watergate Break-In. Nick talked about the different types of pieces, from a look at investigative journalism’s origin stories to pieces on the media’s role in the Watergate story, and interviews with a wide range of journalists, including Connie Chung, Steve Scully, and actress Jane Seymour.

Thank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at [email protected], 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 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 member of the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Hall of Fame.

Cyd talked about the website’s founding and how it has evolved over the last 20+ years. He explained how he works with athletes on their coming out stories, shared his thoughts on what journalists get wrong in their coverage of the LGBTQ+ community, and provided examples of stories he’s done, including one on former Cincinnati Reds and FOX Sports broadcaster Thom Brennaman.

Cyd’s Salute: LZ Granderson

Outsports Podcasts can be found here

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

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 States.

Tran talked about her career path, explained the purpose of the Spotlight, discussed the kinds of stories she covers, and explained her writing style. She also talked about the mentors that were key to her development as a journalist.

Trân’s salutes: Damon Kiesow, University of Missouri and Sisi Wei founder of the DEI Coalition Slack and editor-in-chief of The Markup.

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

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 examples of what the group does, and explained why reporting on inequity is so important.

Alissa’s salute: The Debt Collective.

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

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 a full-time journalist. He explained why he loved print journalism so much, what makes The Atlanta Voice an important newspaper in 2022, and how he tries to make the paper’s coverage distinct.

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