The Journalism Salute

On this episode we're joined by Ishan Thakore. Ishan is a climate and environmental reporter for Colorado Public Radio. He previously worked as a researcher, fact checker and field associate producer for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, a show that ran on TBS that used comedy to tell and analyze news stories.

We talked to Ishan about both jobs. He discussed his responsibilities on Full Frontal, the kinds of stories he did, the process that went into producing them, and why comedy was an effective storytelling tool.

He also explained his current beat and how almost every story has a climate and environmental aspect to it, and he shared what it's like to work in public radio right now.

Ishan's website

https://www.ishanthakore.com/

Lumpkin or Leave It (Full Frontal)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL1EyLolFUk

Trump Administration Canceling Funding

https://www.cpr.org/2025/07/10/trump-cancels-millions-agriculture-funding/

Ishan's salutes: The Committee to Protect Journalists and The Society for Environmental Journalists

You can find all our episode guides for teachers and professors (including this one) here,

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

 Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org 

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Bluesky at @marksimon.bsky.social

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On The Journalism Salute we talk to journalists about who they are and what they do, with the intent of showing that journalists are not the enemy of the people.

On this episode, we're joined by Rick Goldsmith. Rick is a 2-time Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker. His most recent film, Stripped For Parts, American Journalism On The Brink is streaming on PBS.com through the end of 2025 and is scheduled for airing on many local PBS stations on October 20.

We talked to Rick both about the movie and how he made it. We explored why Alden Global Capital is so dangerous and what people are doing to fight back against them. Rick also provided advice for aspiring documentary filmmakers.

And then (35:29) we checked in with Anita Pinto, speech therapist and student newspaper advisor at Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology in New York City, who shared the growing success of the school's second-year newspaper.

Here's a link to Anita's appearance on the podcast a month ago

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anita-pinto-speech-therapist-journalism-club-advisor/id1526063503?i=1000727283749

Rick's salutes: The documentaries No Other Land and Love + War

You can find all our episode guides for teachers and professors (including this one) here,

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

 Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org 

Mark’s website (MarkSimonmedia.com)

Bluesky at @marksimon.bsky.social

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On this episode we're joined by Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez. He is a political science and philosophy student at the University of Texas at Dallas. He's the editor-in-chief of The Retrograde, a student newspaper that operates independent of school administration.

He previously was editor-in-chief of The Mercury, which was the campus newspaper that received funding from the school, until school administration took an extremely hostile position towards the paper and local media, leading to a series of events discussed in this episode.

Gregorio talked about his journalism interest (he took an atypical path to it) and described what he and his staff have been through.

You can learn more about Gregorio and his colleagues in these articles

https://www.keranews.org/education/2024-09-18/ut-dallas-mercury-student-newspaper-strike-eic-fired

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/ut-dallas-newspaper-ban-is-another-blow-to-freedom-on-campus-23056264

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/education/schools/ut-dallas-student-newspaper-student-groups-sue-to-block-texas-law-used-to-suppress-student-protest

You can find all our episode guides for teachers and professors (including this one) here,

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

 Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org 

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Hi everyone - Wanted to alert you to another journalism podcast that you might enjoy listening to. This is a recent episode of Small Press, Big Ideas hosted by Paul Gewuerz, who owns and runs a company that produces podcasts for news organizations. It's a podcast about the business of local news and community journalism.

Today Paul sits down with Matthew Watkins, Editor-in-Chief of The Texas Tribune, for a conversation on nonprofit journalism, civic engagement, and navigating polarization in today’s media environment. Matthew shares his journey from local Texas reporting to leading one of the nation's premier nonprofit newsrooms, and offers candid insights into what makes The Tribune unique, from its funding model and newsroom culture to its commitment to transparency and nonpartisanship.

If you like it, be sure to follow it on Apple or at LocalPod.co - we'll be back with a new episode of The Journalism Salute next Tuesday.

On this episode, we're joined by Laura Kebede-Twumasi. Laura is a journalist and public historian based in Virginia. She has formerly been a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and an education reporter at Chalkbeat.

From 2022 to 2025 she was a journalist in residence (and professor) at the University of Memphis, where she got her masters, and the Institute for Public Service Reporting. During that time she launched Civil Wrongs, a podcast and series of articles investigating lynchings, deaths related to Civil Rights work and racially-motivated massacres. It spans 21 episodes (so far) and was a collaborative effort with students in social justice classes she taught.

She is a 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri and lists her job as Professional Listener.

She was recommended by our recent guest, another journalist-historian, Logan Jaffe.

Laura's salute: Cardinal News

You can find all our episode guides for teachers and professors here, and you can find the one for this episode here.

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Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

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On this episode we're joined by Ana Valdez. Ana is a multimedia journalist for KWCH-12 TV in Wichita, Kansas. Ana, a native of Bolivia, describes herself as dedicated to sharing bilingual stories, believing that journalism should create impact and that language should be a bridge, not a barrier.

Ana shared her career path and gave examples of her work ranging from covering immigration and other political issues in Kansas to local news like the birth of a hippo or a local pinball league. She had advice for aspiring journalists, applicable given that she was one herself not long ago (she's a graduate of Emporia State and CUNY-Newmark).

Story example:

https://www.kwch.com/2025/07/26/wichita-schools-reassure-families-immigration-concerns-rise/

Ana's salutes: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Leila Medina of the New York Times, and Charlie Spicer of the Committee to Protect Journalists (who recommended Ana for this episode).

You can find our episode guides for teachers and professors here

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org 

Mark’s website (MarkSimonmedia.com)

Bluesky at @marksimon.bsky.social

Subscribe to our newsletter– journalismsalute.substack.com

On this special edition of The Journalism Salute, we talk to Anita Pinto, a speech therapist for Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, a high school in Manhattan in which she started a journalism club last year.

Anita is going to check in with us once a month to let us know how her club is doing, the challenges the students face, and the things they learn. We thank the non-profit Press Pass NYC for connecting us with her. Press Pass is supporting the efforts of Anita and other journalism educators starting new programs throughout New York City.

In this episode, Anita introduced us to her school and club and explained why she started the program. She shared what Year 1 was like and what her expectations are for Year 2. Look for more updates from Anita throughout the school year.

School Newspaper: The Gateway Times

Anita's salute: Kevin Benoit, founder Parlé Magazine

You can find our episode guides for teachers and professors here

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org 

Mark’s website (MarkSimonmedia.com)

Bluesky at @marksimon.bsky.social

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On this episode we're joined by Cara Kuhlman. Cara is the director of digital strategy and products for KNKX Public Radio in Seattle. She is also the founder of Future Tides, which provides news for people who work, play, and live on the Pacific Northwest's waterways.

I'm interested in that in particular because Cara is doing some clever things to engage with her readership, including using her expertise to give tours to local residents.

Cara talked about how she started this project from scratch and how she's built it over the last few years. She spoke about what she's done with her tours and how she's planning to help others who want to give tours to their community. She also shared the organizations that have been helpful to her, which includes a program at CUNY-Newmark, Lion Publishers, and Tiny News Collective.

Cara's salute: Monica Nickelsburg, KUOW-FM reporter

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On this episode we're joined by Elisha Brown. Elisha is the Reproductive Rights Today Newsletter for the non-profit States Newsroom. She's based in Durham, North Carolina and is a 2017 graduate of American University in Washington D.C. She worked for some prominent newsrooms prior to her current job, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast.

Elisha talked about those jobs and her current work. She gave examples of the type of stories she covers and explained the other things that go into producing the newsletter. She shared how the coverage of this issue goes well beyond just covering abortion.

Elisha's salute: The 19th

Examples of her writing:

Texas man sues California doctor over mailing abortion pills

Baby bonds economist says so-called Trump accounts ‘co-opted a good idea’

What top IVF advocates want from the White House fertility care plan

Momnibus Act aims to improve maternal health nationally despite budget cuts

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

 Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org 

Mark’s website (MarkSimonmedia.com)

Tweet us at @journalismpod and Bluesky at @marksimon.bsky.social

Subscribe to our newsletter– journalismsalute.substack.com

On this episode we're joined by a great longform feature writer, John Glionna. John is a longtime journalist – older than most of our guests (he's in his 60s). He spent 35 years in newspapers including 26 at the Los Angeles Times. He's been based in different places around the world, including Seoul, South Korea and Las Vegas.

This interview is intended to pick John's brain on what goes into writing features about some of the most interesting and unusual people you'll ever encounter. We discuss several of his past features, which are excerpted in his new book, Rebels and Outliers, Real Stories of the American West. There are a lot of good lessons for aspiring journalists on everything from writing ledes to what can be gained from reading your work aloud.

John's blog: https://www.johnglionna.com/blog

Article examples:

The Bridge Jumper –

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-may-23-me-jumper23-story.html

The Lonesome Phone Booth

https://www.mediafire.com/file/xnr8uqryadrdt3b/19960223_OC_Register_Lonesome_Phone_has_the_ring_of_a_Desert_Landmark.pdf/file

John's salute: The current staff of the Los Angeles Times

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at [email protected]

 Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org 

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