On our 300th episode we're joined by Cate Charron. Cate is in her 2nd year as a First Amendment reporter for The Indianapolis Star. This is one of five such positions across papers in the USA Today Network, owned by Gannett. It's sponsored by The Freedom Forum's Local Press Initiative and Journalism Funding Partners.

Cate has worked for other newsrooms in Indiana, and rose as high as editor-in-chief at the Indiana Daily Student at Indiana University, from which she graduated in 2022.

Cate talked to us about what a First Amendment reporter does, provided examples of the stories she's written, and shared how her work is a collaborative effort with the other first amendment reporters.

Example of coverage: Intellectual diversity story

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2026/09/15/indiana-colleges-see-increase-in-professor-intellectual-diversity-complaints/91709774007/

Cate's salutes: The student journalists at The Cornell Daily Sun, Mirror Indy, and Indianapolis Star accountability and investigations editor Tony Cook

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On our 299th episode, Mark Simon is joined by Kae Petrin.

Kae is a data and graphics reporter for Civic News Company's data visuals team. Kae collaborates with local reporters to tell data-driven stories about education, voting rights, and health care. Kae has been with this organization for nearly 5 years.

They are also the co-founder of the Trans Journalists Association, which began in 2020.

Mark and Kae talked about what goes into being a data reporter, the different types of stories they work on, the goals of the Trans Journalists Association, and what it was like to do a Knight Fellowship.

Kae's salutes: Lex McMenamin, movement building reporter for The Guardian

Kae's website: https://petrinkae.github.io/

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On this episode we're joined by Nancy Martinez Preyor-Johnson. Nancy is a senior projects reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. She was formerly a metro editor and editorial page editor and won awards for her opinion writing about the Uvalde school shooting and about immigration. She also used to be a high school journalism teacher. She's on the executive board for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as their vice-president of print. She is a graduate of Texas A&M-Kingsville with a masters from UTSA

Nancy talked about covering a scandal related to ex-congressman Tony Gonzales and the challenges of reporting such stories. She shared the goals of the NAHJ and related her experience as a middle school and high school journalism teacher.

Nancy's salute: All the non-profit journalism newsrooms

Example of coverage of congressman Gonzales

https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/tony-gonzales-texts-regina-santos-aviles-pictures-21362068.php

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On this episode we're joined by Amanda Perez Pintado. Amanda is a bilingual reporter covering health for The Center for Investigative Reporting in Puerto Rico (Centro De Periodismo Investigativo) and a journalism instructor teaching news writing and data journalism to college students. She's been in her current job for 2.5 years and has also worked at El Nuevo Dia and USA Today.

She's a part of Report for America, a graduate of the Universidad de Puerto Rico with a masters from NYU.

Amanda talked about her work as a bilingual reporter, why investigative reporting is a good beat for her, and what she hopes students get out of her from her work as a teacher.

Examples of her reporting

https://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2025/12/mentally-ill-defendants-puerto-rico-jail/

https://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2026/06/multimillonarias-multas-first-medical/

Amanda's salute: Her colleague Víctor Rodríguez Velázquez

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On this episode Mark Simon is joined by Nierra Coleman-Jones and Eric Jourgensen. Nierra is the senior manager of educator engagement for the News Literacy Project. Eric is a teacher and newspaper advisor in Palm Beach County, Florida. They were here to promote the National News Literacy Conference, which will take place Oct. 8-10 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Nierra is one of the people running the conference. Eric will be one of the guest speakers. His presentation is titled " Dihydrogen Monoxide: The Deadly Chemical That Exposes How Misinformation Works."

Each of them talked about their experiences with news literacy, the challenges in teaching students to be news literate, and what they hope people will get out of coming to the conference.

For more information about the News Literacy Project, visit them at newslit.org or find them on social media.

And learn more about the News Literacy Conference here:

https://newslit.org/conference/

Eric's GoFundMe to cover his expenses

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-teach-news-literacy-at-a-national-level

Nierra's salute: The design team at the News Literacy Project

Eric's salutes: His first editor, Jon Sechrist

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On this episode we're joined by Nevin Kallepalli. Nevin was a reporter for Shasta Scout, a non-profit newsroom serving Shasta County, California.

We've talked to a lot of California-based reporters but I think Nevin is the first we've talked to in a politically-conservative part of the state. The demographics of Shasta are overwhelmingly white.

Nevin was a local news fellow who is particularly interested in covering religion. This was his first foray into daily reporting and he was a finalist for an award from the Institute for Non-Profit News this year. He's a graduate of UCLA with a masters from Columbia, and while there he worked for the Whitney Museum.

We talked with Nevin about his journalism origin story and some of the prominent stories he covered. He explained how he was able to cover a community with vastly different demographics from his in a fair and empathetic way. This is a good episode for early-career or student journalists wondering about what the local news experience is like.

Nevin's salutes: CalMatters and The Sacramento Bee

Nevin's story on police tactics:

https://shastascout.org/using-suspects-faces-rpd-weaves-compellingly-pro-police-narratives-its-a-practice-thats-known-to-cause-harm/

Other notable stories

https://shastascout.org/could-forced-treatment-for-substance-use-help-stabilize-the-chronically-homeless/

https://shastascout.org/in-hopes-of-saving-her-daughters-life-she-asked-for-her-rights-to-be-taken-away/

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On this episode Mark Simon is joined by Maddie Carr. Maddie is just starting graduate school for investigative and data journalism at the University of Missouri. She is a graduate of Emporia State University with a sociology degree. In 2024 she became the first college student to be named Kansas Journalist of the Year by the Kansas Press Association.

On this episode we're joined by Maddie Carr. Maddie is just starting graduate school for investigative and data journalism at the University of Missouri. She is a graduate of Emporia State University with a sociology degree. In 2024 she became the first college student to be named Kansas Journalist of the Year by the Kansas Press Association. We'll talk to her about that and much more.

Maddie talked about the work she's done to this point in her career, including the investigative piece that won her that big award. She also shared about her battle with imposter syndrome while working an internship at the Topeka Capital-Journal. And she explained why she wanted to go the graduate school.

Maddie's coverage of professor's sexual harassment history

https://esubulletin.com/10768/news/esu-assistant-dean-resigns-amid-public-outcry-of-sexual-harassment-its-not-the-first-time/

They grow up so fast (story about her brothers)

https://esubulletin.com/20165/opinion/they-grow-up-so-fast/

Maddie's salutes: Amy Goodman of Democracy Now and Steal This Story Please, and Stacy Saldanha-Olson of the Topeka Capital-Journal.

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On this episode, Mark Simon talks to Kuwilileni Williams-Hauwanga, the deputy director of Audience & Innovation at Capital B, a newsroom that covers stories of crucial importance to Black people across the country, such as politics, health, criminal justice, the environment, and rural issues.

Kuwilileni is an accomplished multimedia storyteller who previously worked at the Brookings Institution, IndieWire, Business Insider, and Buzzfeed. Our conversation focused primarily on an oral history project that Kuwilileni is helping to lead. It's the For The Record Archive, a joint venture of Capital B and PushBlack intended to provide 250 oral histories of the Black American experience.

We talked about Kuwilileni's work history, the project's origins, why it's important, and provided examples of the different types of oral histories shared.

Kuwililileni's salutes: MLK 50 and The 19th

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