IRE Radio Podcast on education, Uvalde and Philip Meyer
The IRE Radio Podcast is back after a four-year hiatus. Check out these three new episodes on education-related topics:
You can find the podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify for Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and other streaming platforms.
Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter reported and hosted the episodes. Doug Meigs edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Read on for more information about each of the new episodes and additional resources and links to topics discussed.
Episode: Finding stories on the education beat
On this episode, we recap “Separate and unequal: 5 must-have stories from the K-12 education beat,” a panel from IRE’s inaugural AccessFest Conference in 2023, featuring two veteran journalists who cover education.
Melissa Barragán Taboada is the editor of the Globe’s “Great Divide” education team, which examines inequities in education. Prior to coming to the Globe in 2021, Taboada was a reporter and editor for 20 years at the Austin American-Statesman, where she led the paper’s education coverage. Taboada taught a “Reporting on Education” course in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, her alma mater.
Chastity Pratt is the education bureau chief responsible for leading The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of pre-kindergarten through higher education, including managing education reporters based in bureaus across the country. She previously covered education at Bridge Magazine, the Detroit Free Press, Newsday and The Oregonian.
Resources and links
- IRE members-only: “Separate and unequal: 5 must-have stories from the K-12 education beat,” video recording from AccessFest23.
- IRE members-only: The IRE Journal: Q1 2024 (“Separate & Unequal,” pg. 14-17)
- Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)
Episode: A look inside Uvalde: 365
In the spring of 2022, an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas was victim of a mass shooting, resulting in 21 lives lost – a massive tragedy for the community. The ABC News Investigative Unit, lead by Cindy Galli, decided it was time to stay. Uvalde: 365 was a yearlong project where the ABC News team stayed in Uvalde for more than a year to report the aftermath of this tragedy.
You can watch the ABC News team’s new documentary, “21: Loyal and True,” streaming on ESPN+ and Hulu. Members of the Uvalde 365 team also have a new book coming out, “One Year in Uvalde,” a story of hope and resilience that will be released in May 2024.
Resources and links
- ABC News’ “Uvalde: 365” interactive page
- ABC News’ “Uvalde 365 Presents: Crisis in Command” on Hulu
- ABC News’ Hulu documentary “21: Loyal and True”
- ABC News’ “One Year in Uvalde” book
- IRE members-only: “Showcase: Local coverage, lasting impact: The Uvalde story,” from the 2023 IRE Conference (featuring award-winning reporter Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was killed at Robb Elementary; Craig Garnett, publisher of the 144-year-old Uvalde Leader-News; ABC News correspondent John Quiñones; Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma).
- IRE members-only: The IRE Journal: Q1 2024 (“Uvalde: 365 | One year + later,” pg. 26-30)
- Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)
Episode: The legacy of Philip Meyer
On this special episode of the IRE Radio Podcast, we pull from 2023 and 2024 NICAR Conference recordings to explore how Phil Meyer inspired countless reporters, students and colleagues. This episode also includes excerpts from an interview with Meyer by Charles Lewis from a decade prior.
Meyer pioneered the field of computer-assisted reporting and introduced social sciences methods to newsrooms. His groundbreaking book, “Precision Journalism,” turned 50 years old in 2023. He died on Nov. 4, 2023, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Resources and links
- “IRE legend Meyer dies at 93” (obituary)
- IRE Ring of Honor nominee page
- Meyer’s book: “Precision Journalism: A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science Methods”
- James Steele and Don Barlett’s “Crime and Justice” (dataset)
- Sarah Cohen’s book: “Numbers In The Newsroom: Using Math And Statistics In News, Second Edition”
- Investigating Power: Philip Meyer (video linked from YouTube)
- IRE members-only: “Celebrating the 50th anniversary of ‘Precision Journalism,’” from the NICAR23 Conference (audio recording).
- IRE members-only: The IRE Journal: Q1 2024 (“Celebrating the 50th anniversary of ‘Precision Journalism,’” pg. 10-13)
- Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)
If you have a story you think we should feature on the show, drop us a note at web@ire.org. We would love to hear from you.