The Lead

UGA’s Vicki Michaelis on sports journalism’s expansive impact

Vicki Michaelis is one of few people who have witnessed Michael Phelps win every one of his Olympic medals. After 12 years as USA Today’s lead Olympics reporter, she now teaches sports journalism classes at the University of Georgia. In this episode, we talk about her career path, what drew her to teaching and her advice for aspiring sports journalists.

“I loved that sports are a microcosm of life and that they both reflect and can help change things in society.”

Guest: Vicki Michaelis, director of the John Huland Carmical Sports Media Institute at UGA.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

GPB’s Stephen Fowler on political reporting and the power of radio

What does it take to cover politics in a state as crucial and rapidly changing as Georgia? In this episode, Stephen Fowler, a political reporter at Georgia Public Broadcasting, has some answers. In this episode, we talk about covering the midterms, the gravity of covering local political news and the magic of radio storytelling.

The article Stephen mentions about the shoal bass, “On The Flint, A Fight For A Fish,” can be found here.

“Don’t wait for somebody to give you permission or assign you a story to do something.”

Guest: Stephen Fowler, political reporter for Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

NPR’s Pallavi Gogoi on making business stories that matter to people

Pallavi Gogoi has worked in financial journalism for most of her long and impressive career. She’s covered currencies and orange juice markets, and most recently worked as NPR’s chief business editor. Today, she joins The Lead to talk about the threads of storytelling that are woven in all types of journalism and writing business stories in ways that matter to people.

“When we cover economics and business, I feel that we are literally covering your life and my life.”

Guest: Pallavi Gogoi, former NPR chief business editor and current acting managing editor-daily report.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Alyssa Pointer on people-focused photojournalism

Longform documentary storytelling is Alyssa Pointer’s specialty. She’s an independent photojournalist who wants her work, in her words, to make people give a damn about their neighbors. Alyssa has worked at multiple newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and now freelances while based in Atlanta. She joins The Lead to talk about her projects, her detainment while covering protests against police brutality in 2020 and telling the stories of the incredibly diverse South.

The project she mentions that is centered around an uncle and his two nephews using boxing to break generational cycles is called “Tough Love” and can be found here.

Guest: Alyssa Pointer, freelance photojournalist.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

ProPublica’s Rui Kaneya on supporting local investigative news

Rui Kaneya, a senior editor at ProPublica, joins The Lead to talk about why local news is important and what it takes to become an investigative journalist. Rui oversees projects for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, which supports long-term projects at local news sources. He’s worked at multiple nonprofit news sources as an investigative reporter and editor, and was part of a team that won the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting for a series about model legislation.

Guest: Rui Kaneya, senior editor at ProPublica.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

Melissa Lyttle on believing in your work

Melissa Lyttle is an award-winning photojournalist who spent 15 years working at newspapers in Florida and now freelances with support from organizations like the Pulitzer Center and the International Women’s Media Foundation. She’s worked on stories in Mexico, Haiti, the Gaza Strip and more places. Today, she joins The Lead to talk about not giving up when people tell you “no,” the importance of having a community and her project “Where They Stood,” which documents what happened to Confederate monuments after they were taken down.

Guest: Melissa Lyttle, freelance photojournalist.

Host: Jacqueline GaNun.

BONUS: Introducing Jacqueline GaNun as host

In this season 12 bonus episode, Kyra Posey passes the microphone to the incoming host for next season, Jacqueline GaNun. Jacqueline tells us about her transition as host, the past experience she’s bringing to The Lead and why it’s important to have transparent and empathetic conversations about leadership in the news industry. 

Daniella Zalcman on reimagining documentary photography

Daniella Zalcman is an award-winning documentary photographer with work in National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and in The New York Times — just to name a few places. She joins The Lead to discuss how photojournalists can reimagine documentary photography to tell compelling stories, the inspiration behind her award-winning project "Signs of Your Identity" which tells the story of survivors who were forced to attend assimilation boarding schools for indigenous children, and how she became interested in journalism.

Guest: Daniella Zalcman, documentary photographer.

Host: Kyra Posey.

Sean Keenan on why housing reporting is essential

Sean Keenan's work can be found in The New York Times, Atlanta Magazine, The Daily Beast and Vice — just to name a few places. Sean is a freelance reporter and he also covers housing for the Atlanta Civic Circle. He joins this episode to talk about why housing reporting is essential, the importance of holding public officials accountable, balancing accountability with objectivity and what drives him to keep covering housing. 

Guest: Sean Keenan, freelance reporter and housing reporter for the Atlanta Civic Circle.

Host: Kyra Posey.

Ken Foskett on why the public needs open records requests

Ken Foskett recently retired from his role as a senior editor for investigations at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and he has no shortage of stories to tell. He led a reporting team that investigated open records violations in Atlanta, which led to the first-ever criminal investigation of open records violations in the state of Georgia. He managed to get an interview with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is known for not speaking with the press. He talks about these experiences and more in this episode.

Guest: Ken Foskett, former senior editor for investigations at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Host: Kyra Posey.