In this episode, Grady alumna Laura James discusses her work as the commerce editor for home and travel with Discovery. She produces original articles and photo galleries on trending travel and design topics for TravelChannel.com and HGTV.com. In this episode, we discuss reporting on cultural trends and how it connects us with the world at large. 

In this episode of The Lead, I talk to Randy Travis, a Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter for FOX 5 Atlanta. andy joined WAGA in 1990. In 1994 he moved to the station's distinguished investigative unit, the FOX 5 I-Team. Since then, his stories have led to businesses closing that misled the public, exposed government waste and corruption and even sparked criminal investigations that ultimately sent people to prison. 

Note: this episode was recorded before the outbreak of COVID-19 and its subsequent impact on the University of Georgia's operations.

In this episode of the lead, I talk to The New York Times vice president and deputy general counsel David McCraw. As deputy general counsel, David is the primary litigator for the Times and is a tireless defender of the first amendment. He also gave the 41st McGill lecture at the Grady College in 2019. In this episode, we discuss press freedom and the future of journalism internationally. 

In this episode, I talk to Mariana Heredia, a Grady alumna and entrepreneurial journalist. We discuss her pivot to starting her own business, Fenix Journalism, which is centered around crowdfunded journalism. 

In this season 8 return of The Lead podcast, Tony Rehagen, a widely published magazine writer, discusses life as a freelancer and his commitment to storytelling. We discuss one of his stories published in Popular Mechanics, "I Grew Up in a Gas Station," a story he wrote about his childhood.

This episode featured the original host of The Lead podcast: Daniel Funke, now a misinformation reporter with Politifact. We discuss how his experiences on this podcast helped shape his career and what it means to cover misinformation in today's political landscape.

In this exciting bonus episode of The Lead, we are excited to share with you our new project: The Lead ebook! The book, titled "News Leadership: Conversations about Journalism and its Future," features excerpts from the podcast's first six seasons. This episode features a conversation with host Charlotte Norsworthy and Keith Herndon, director of the Cox Institute about the production of the book.

Purchase the book here: https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/news-leadership-conversations-about-journalism-and-its-future

Grady alumna Michelle Baruchman moved from Georgia to Washington state for her first full-time job out of college, and she's been there ever since. This episode discusses what this transition was like for her as well as the innovative work she does as an engagement editor and transportation reporter for The Seattle Times.

In this episode of The Lead, I talk to Amanda Bright, the managing editor for Grady Newsource and faculty member at the Grady College, about innovation in news production and how she is implementing some of these ideas at Grady Newsource.

This episode of The Lead features Beth Hunt, director of editorial recruiting and development at American City Business Journals, which is the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the United States. In this episode we talk about her career and the status of the business news sector of journalism in terms of financial stability.