The Lead

Special: What the Hackathon, featuring Adam Levin

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.

UGA’s Moni Basu on the power of storytelling

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.

NPR’s Joe Shapiro on covering disability rights and finding voices for radio

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.

NPR’s Elissa Nadworny on reporting internationally

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.

B. “Toastie” Oaster on telling Native stories

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.

The Houston Chronicle’s Brady Stone on reaching readers

Stories don’t always make their way from reporters to readers on their own. Sometimes they need help — that’s where audience engagement journalists come in. On this week’s episode of The Lead, Brady Stone, an audience producer at the Houston Chronicle, breaks down why reaching readers quickly and accurately matters.

“People need to see this work, and without an audience journalist to be there to really help you uplift that story … there’d be a piece missing.”

Guest: Brady Stone, audience producer at the Houston Chronicle.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Ryan Prior on uncovering stories about health and disability

Ryan Prior has been interested in telling stories about health, science and disability since high school. Now, he does that as a journalist — and has added documentary filmmaker and published author to his résumé. He also found time to consult with the federal government about long COVID and create a position at a think tank.

Today, we chat about telling health and disability stories and about his many different projects.

Ryan’s documentary “Forgotten Plague” is about chronic fatigue syndrome and can be found here. His book “The Long Haul” was published in 2022 and tells the story of millions of people living with long-term effects from COVID-19.

“The voices of the marginalized can be one of the places where there’s the greatest level of insight.”

Guest: Ryan Prior, journalist-in-residence at The Century Foundation (and University of Georgia alum).

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

UGA’s Denetra Walker on creating change through social justice journalism

It’s Denetra Walker’s second semester teaching at the University of Georgia and she’s just getting started. After a multitude of experiences in the broadcast journalism field, she’s teaching social justice journalism and journalism ethics, all while providing mentorship and representation for students in the classroom.

In this episode, we chat about what social justice journalism is and why it’s crucial for the future of storytelling.

“Your dreams should be so big that it scares you. And if your dreams don’t scare you, you’re not dreaming big enough.”

Guest: Denetra Walker, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Georgia.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Grist’s Lylla Younes on environmental storytelling

Lylla Younes’ work has had an impact. Her work mapping cancer-causing industrial pollution in Louisiana for ProPublica helped lead to a plastic manufacturer’s permit to be suspended. She’s written about oil spills, hazardous waste and a tanker off the coast of Yemen that’s poised to cause an environmental disaster.

She’s now a staff writer at Grist, a nonprofit telling stories at the intersection of climate and justice. In this episode, we chat about her path to data and environmental journalism, her work as an investigative reporter and all the intersections environment stories contain.

Lylla’s project she mentions is called “We Were Not Allowed To Mourn.” It tells the stories of New York’s Arab and Muslim community after 9/11 and can be found here.

“I think the best stories, the ones that I want to tell myself, often have an eye for both the very close view and the local and that specific instance, and also the larger systemic forces at play, and are able to kind of balance those two perspectives.”

Guest: Lylla Younes, staff writer at Grist.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Atlanta Magazine’s Kamille Whittaker on recording Black history

Kamille Whittaker’s career is intimately intertwined with the Black Press, starting with her time as an intern. Since then, she’s worn many different hats and is now a managing editor at Atlanta Magazine, where she puts together a product that truly tells the stories of the city. 

In this episode, we chat about her work at the magazine, her role as a training director at the nonprofit Canopy Atlanta and her project “Perhaps, To Bloom,” which aims to celebrate the cultural impact of Caribbean communities in Atlanta and the South.

“Connect yourself to a writing tradition, or storytelling tradition, or storytelling genealogy. … It really kind of guides you and guides your steps.”

Guest: Kamille Whittaker, managing editor at Atlanta Magazine, training director at Canopy Atlanta and 2023 Cox Institute Industry Fellow.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.