Episodes

Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Scripps News’ Alexandra Travis on telling Black stories on screen
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Alexandra Travis works to tell stories that have gone uncovered. As a documentary producer at Scripps News, she creates long-form, in-depth video journalism focusing especially on the experiences of Black people in the South.
In this episode, Alexandra talks about what it feels like when she realizes there’s a story she can tell using video, why focusing on Black stories is important to her and how her documentaries connect with audiences. You can watch her award-winning documentary “Ropes in Brown Hands,” which is about an Oklahoma town that’s home to one of the nation’s oldest Black rodeos, here.
Guest: Alexandra Travis, documentary producer at Scripps News.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
WRAL’s Kelsey Coffey on knowing what drives you
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
Kelsey Coffey gets up at 2:30 a.m. every day to deliver the morning news as a broadcast reporter at WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 into uncertainty from the pandemic and protests for racial justice across the country. But today, she knows what drives her to wake up early each morning — connecting with her audience and serving them through her reporting.
In this episode, Kelsey talks about the projects she’s worked on with Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a phenomenal journalist and one of two students who desegregated UGA in 1961, and about why it’s important to know your “why.”
Guest: Kelsey Coffey, reporter at WRAL.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
UGA’s Dodie Cantrell-Bickley on the bright future of broadcast journalism
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Dodie Cantrell-Bickley was taught the importance of a free press from her mother, who grew up in Nazi Germany and saw how crucial journalism was. Dodie pursued that passion for more than 30 years as a broadcast reporter and president of multiple news stations. She was a leader during the pivot to digital and the advent of the internet, and she’s always looking forward to what’s next.
In this episode, we talk about leading through change, encouraging innovation and staying powerfully optimistic about the future of journalism.
Guest: Dodie Cantrell-Bickley, senior lecturer in journalism at the University of Georgia.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Savannah Sicurella and Tyler Wilkins are making careers in business journalism soon after graduating college and entering the job market. In this episode, they debrief about what drew them to reporting on commercial real estate and development, and how they managed to navigate the learning curve that comes with starting a new role — especially a business-focused one.
Check out Savannah’s reporting here and Tyler’s reporting here.
Guests: Savannah Sicurella and Tyler Wilkins, staff reporters at the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
The Current’s Margaret Coker on reviving an investigative news desert
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Margaret Coker has covered stories from 32 countries on four continents, working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other outlets. In 2020, she returned home to Savannah, Georgia, to found The Current, a nonprofit news source dedicated to filling the vacuum of high-quality investigative news on the coast.
In this episode, we chat about her international reporting, founding a news start-up and why nonprofit news is increasingly important.
Check out Margaret’s book, “The Spymaster of Baghdad,” here. You can read some of her reporting in The Current about the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and racism in the Glynn County police force.
“High quality facts, high quality information, high quality local news should be a public good and not a for-profit commodity. That is at the essence why nonprofit news matters.”
Guest: Margaret Coker, editor-in-chief of The Current.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Special: What the Hackathon, featuring Adam Levin
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Misinformation. Deepfakes. Scams. None of these are going away, and we need tools to figure out what’s true. This special episode of The Lead brings you into the What the Hackathon at the University of Georgia, where students learned in real-time how to navigate our disordered information ecosystem to produce and consume news responsibly.
It also features an interview with Adam Levin, a sponsor of the Hackathon and host of the What the Hack podcast, a no-shame zone for anyone who’s ever been scammed, hacked, phished or cyber-bushwhacked. Adam and I talk about how it’s more important than ever to combat misinformation as our democracy and society is impacted.
Listen to Adam on What the Hack here or any platform where you listen to podcasts.
“Never lose your curiosity and don’t be complacent. When it comes to receiving what is presented to you as news, always ask questions.”
Guest: Adam Levin, host of What the Hack.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
UGA’s Moni Basu on the power of storytelling
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
In her 40 years as a reporter, Moni Basu has learned how to tell a good story. She’s covered presidential elections, natural disasters and the human stories of the war in Iraq.
Today, she tells me how she discovered the power of a good narrative and how she earned the nickname “Evil Reporter Chick” in Iraq.
Guest: Moni Basu, director of the University of Georgia’s narrative nonfiction MFA program.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
NPR’s Joe Shapiro on covering disability rights and finding voices for radio
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
In his more than 20 years at NPR, Joe Shapiro has written stories from health to rising court fees to solitary confinement. He’s spent most of his career writing stories about disability, starting when editors wouldn’t even publish his work because they didn’t think it was relevant.
In this episode, Joe talks about covering disability rights, finding voices to anchor radio stories and saying “yes” to unexpected opportunities.
“I love radio. I love hearing somebody’s voice … you have to have the right person who can tell their story.”
Guest: Joe Shapiro, investigations correspondent at NPR.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
NPR’s Elissa Nadworny on reporting internationally
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Elissa Nadworny likes to cover higher education because she sees it as a gateway to stories about everything, from housing to transportation to parenting to politics. But that’s not her only interest — she’s been covering the war in Ukraine from the ground and has traveled to Jordan to report on Syrian food aid programs. She’s also covered the White House for Bloomberg.
On this episode of The Lead, Elissa talks about uncovering unique higher ed stories, reporting internationally and interviewing people who have experienced trauma.
Elissa mentions one of her recent projects where she followed a class of kindergarteners in Ukraine to showcase the impact of the war on children and families. It aired on NPR’s All Things Considered and can be found here.
“I think sometimes people are waiting for the job to make the work that they want to make. And I just don’t think you have to wait.”
Guest: Elissa Nadworny, higher education correspondent at NPR.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
B. “Toastie” Oaster on telling Native stories
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Toastie Oaster’s first ever feature made them a finalist in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. Now a staff writer on the Indigenous affairs desk at High Country News, Toastie focuses on stories that highlight social and environmental justice for Native nations and the consequences of colonialism in the West.
In this episode, we’re talking about why having Native stories told by Native journalists is important and how non-Native people should report responsibly on Indigenous communities.
Toastie’s feature that we talk about (and that was a finalist in the National Magazine Awards) is called “Underwater Legends.” It’s about the relationship between the Pacific lamprey and Native nations in the Northwest, and it can be found here.
“Reporting on Native issues, if you allow it to, will challenge your worldview. And it should.”
Guest: B. “Toastie” Oaster, staff writer on the Indigenous affairs desk at High Country News.
Host: Jacqueline GaNun.