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A printout of an email from April 2014 with a few case numbers jotted in the margin, stuck in a drawer and forgotten. That was the first step in a ten year journey through roughly 150 banker's boxes of attorney general case files to write the definitive book on the Don Bolles assassination. Jeremy Duda did it with a full time job, and had two kids along the way.

Jeremy is a reporter at Axios Phoenix, the first hire when the morning newsletter launched in June 2022. Most of his 23 year career has been spent covering politics and government in his home state of Arizona, at the Arizona Capitol Times and Yellow Sheet Report and then the Arizona Mirror, which he helped launch. He started out covering high school sports in Hobbs, New Mexico, and reported in Provo, Utah before coming home. He is the author of two books: If This Be Treason (2016) and Murder in the Fourth Estate: The Assassination of Investigative Journalist Don Bolles (2026).

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Jeremy to get into:

• The Friday staff meeting where Don Bolles popped into his head
• Writing the book he wanted to read, and why a treason book came out first
• The attorney general's personal sign-off and 150 boxes of case files photographed one page at a time
• Picking journalism as a college freshman right before the bottom fell out of the industry
• Why he tells every journalism student to cover high school sports in a small town
• Hiring freezes and layoffs that killed every interview, and the plan to deliver pizzas back in Arizona
• The worst feeling in the business: a morning newsletter that is out and not coming back
• Politicians are just people, and the average voter would be stunned by some of them
• The New Mexico developer who offered him a beer at 11:30 in the morning
• Almost cashing in his chips for a PR job in 2018, and the lunch that started the Arizona Mirror
• The Receipt: the April 2014 email that started the Bolles book
• His superpower: institutional knowledge that former House speakers still call him for
• The Shakespeare placeholder headline his editors left in
• Calling the chief of staff when a spokesperson won't call back
• Advice to his first-year self: learn public records early

Follow Jeremy Duda on X: @jeremyduda
Read Axios Phoenix: https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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She was standing alone at a pond with her camera gear, a police helicopter overhead, waiting on a shooter who was moving from house to house. That was the moment Hailey Frances asked herself, what are we doing here? Years later she was leading content at Phoenix's CW station, had just told her husband to go chase his pilot's license while she carried the family, and then the station was sold.

Hailey is an Arizona native and Cronkite School graduate with more than 15 years in broadcast journalism. She anchored and reported in Phoenix, Houston, Grand Rapids and Charlottesville, led content at KASW, Phoenix's CW affiliate, produced a documentary with iHeartRadio that aired in dozens of markets and hosted Positively Arizona. Today she is Director of Operations at STN, The Social Television Network, where the work is community journalism that connects nonprofits and corporate partners. She lives in central Phoenix with her husband, their son and their husky mix, Prin.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Hailey to get into:

• The high school studio audition that made a 14 year old decide this was her life
• Mailing $10 VHS tapes to 30 stations and hearing back from one
• Why she wanted to be a political reporter near D.C., and why that lasted a year and a half
• The Golden Globes red carpet and LA press junkets that never filled her up
• Alone at a pond with a police helicopter overhead: the assignment that broke something
• The station sale that landed a couple of months after her husband left TV to become a pilot
• A Friday call home: I just need some joy, let's go to Disneyland
• Getting typecast as an anchor when she wanted to lead
• Four years away from TV before finding her way to STN
• The introvert who is fine on camera but hates a full room
• The Receipt: a wedding photo and the newsroom coworker she refused to befriend
• Chris Kattan sitting in her lap for an entire interview
• The unwritten rule: put in the time and you earn the respect
• Advice to her first-year self: follow your inner compass, not what is expected

Learn more about STN: https://stntv.com
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Send us Fan Mail

She used to sit in her car after work in tears and could not explain why, because there is no crying in oral surgery. A wellness retreat in Baja California gave her the answer she did not want: she was done being a surgeon. Today Bahar Anooshahr is the restaurant critic for The Arizona Republic, and the first thing with her new title printed on it is her proof of how far that decision carried her.

Born in Iran, Bahar followed the path her family expected and became an oral and maxillofacial surgeon before walking away to write. She freelanced for Eater and Phoenix New Times, joined the Republic as dining and nightlife reporter in 2022, and was recently promoted to restaurant critic. She is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier, which supports women leaders in food, beverage and hospitality. Her favorite meal is dessert.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Bahar to get into:

• The retreat where she realized she did not want to be an oral surgeon anymore
• How a breakup and a love of Michelin star dinners turned into a food writing career
• Why she ignored the Republic's first email about the job, and what changed her mind
• What her parents said when she left surgery, and what her dad says now
• The negative review of a woman owned restaurant that gave her nightmares
• Learning to sit in discomfort when a critic's opinion gets pushback
• The difference between a dining reporter and a restaurant critic
• Walking 103,000 steps in one day just to beat a stranger on Fitbit
• The Receipt: her new title in print, and the Ruth Reichl book that started it all
• The story she wrote through tears when a restaurant tied to her late husband closed
• The unwritten rule: critics pay for every meal, zero gifts
• Advice to her first-year self: don't take no for an answer

Follow Bahar Anooshahr: @baharcreative
Follow The Arizona Republic dining team: @azcdining | @azcentral
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com