As the It’s All Journalism team rolls into 2022, we’ve got two significant milestones on the horizon — our 500th episode, which will happen in February, and our 10th anniversary in August.
While we’re still debating how to mark those two occasions, we do want to acknowledge what a great year of episodes we had in 2021. So, as we’ve done in years past, here are our top 10 episodes from last year.
As we look back and remember some of those great conversations, we’re excited about talking to more new journalists and media professionals about the wonderful work they’re doing.
Happy New Year!
Prison Journalism Project helps inmates share their stories
Shaheen Pasha and Yukari Kane, co-founders and co-executive directors of the Prison Journalism Project, join It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell to explain their initiative. They work with inmates to help those with an interest in writing learn how to tell their stories to a wider audience.
Top journalism movies ranked by The Quill, Midwest Film Journal
Lou Harry and Nick Rogers are two of the film buffs behind The Quill’s 110 journalism movies ranked. They talk with It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell about how the movies were selected, the films that were left on the cutting room floor and why Superman needed to be included.
It’s a dangerous time to be a journalist in America
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell is joined by Michael De Dora, Washington advocacy manager with the Committee to Protect Journalists. They discuss the sharp increase in attacks against American journalists in 2020 and what might be in store for the press under a new administration.
How Documented uses WhatsApp to reach its audience
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell speaks with Mazin Sidahmed, founder of the immigration publication Documented. They discuss how WhatsApp has become Documented’s distribution network and why listening to the immigration and refugee community changed the course of his work.
Freelancer won’t let cerebral palsy sideline his sports writing career
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell talks with Blake Baumgartner, a freelance sports writer from Naperville, Illinois. They discuss Blake’s passion for sports and the difficulties he’s faced as a reporter with cerebral palsy.
Investigative reporter exposes maid abuse in Beirut
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell is joined by freelance journalist Lisa Khoury to discuss her new investigative piece, The Real Housemaids of Beirut. She reports on the disturbing abuse of domestic workers and maids in Lebanon who have very little protection or recourse against their employers.
Making amends for failing to tell The Truth in Black and White
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell is joined by Mará Rose Williams, a 22-year education reporter with the Kansas City Star and co-creator of the paper’s series, “The Truth in Black and White.” The series began with an apology for the paper’s white-washing of history and failing to adequately cover the lives and losses of Black Americans and revisited some events to try and make things right.
Giving sources the power to tell their own stories
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell talks with Britney Dennison, deputy director of the Global Reporting Centre in Vancouver. She talks about empowerment journalism and the culmination of several years’ worth of work, a new series for PBS Newshour called Turning Points.
Tucson newspaper proves to be a vital source for the Latinx community
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell talks with Liliana Lopez, editor of La Estrella de Tucson, a weekly Spanish-language paper in Arizona. They discuss what she learned from the American Press Institute’s Community Listening Fellowship and how she put that information to use to help the Latinx community during the pandemic.
Gulf States Newsroom launches to share regional stories nationally
It’s All Journalism host Michael O’Connell talks with Priska Neely, managing editor of the new Gulf States Newsroom project from NPR. She talks about her career in journalism and the new initiative to help tell important stories from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi across the region and the nation.
