The Best Story shows

An old friend and one of the first true digital media veterans joins the show to talk about something that's being called #resistancegenealogy. The story Justin brings us is about Jennifer Mendelson, who is combing through public records to make a big point in the contentious national debate: We're all from somewhere.

Justin tells us about the story, and what he's found out about his own family tree after reading it. Check out this episode. 

We also talked about this Pew study, which was released last month, that shows us, in almost realtime, how our origins seem to matter, until they seem to matter less and less. 

Carley Lanich is the editor-in-chief of the award-winning Indiana Daily Student. An aspiring investigative reporter, she joins us today to talk about the work being done by her peers at Michigan State where The State News this week ran a front page editorial calling for the resignation of their president, Lou Anna Simon, in the wake of the Larry Nassar convictions. (Simon did resign soon after.)

Carley talks about that editorial, the reporting that came before it, the role that publication will likely have in the community going forward and the general importance of student media. (You can also see all of The State News' impressive, and continuing, Larry Nassar coverage.)

Carley is a thoughtful young journalist and this is a great show worth hearing. Do give it a listen, and share it with others. 

Tom French is a professor of journalism and a winner of the Pulizer Prize for feature writing. Today he joins us to talk about a student-produced series, The System, published earlier this year in the Indiana Daily Student. It is an in-depth multimedia investigative franchise that took place over the course of 12 months. It was a sensitive and moving look into how university protocols impact people reporting sexual assault, and those named as their attackers.

Four talented student-journalists were key to The System, and we talked about Carley Lanich's reporting in our interview. We would also point out the fine work of Nicole McPheeters (photography), Emily Miles (multimedia) and Eman Mozaffar (development). 

Check out our conversation with Tom here and then, please, go read The System, which shines an important light on a critical subject. 

 

Reporters cover news. And sometimes reporters are news. Chris Pollone joins us today to share the story of a southern reporter who just made the news, and what may be a key 19th century archeological discovery. A reporter with al.com believes he has found the wreckage of what is considered to be the last ship to bring slaves to the United States. It's a terrific story with a great hook and may help tell us even more about our past. And the discovery could mean a lot to the present, as well. Many descendants from that last voyage stayed in the area. We're very excited that Chris came on to talk to us about it today. 

A book about one of those last slaves is due out later this year, as well. You can read about that here.

And be sure to follow Chris Pollone on Twitter.

Sports media professor Lauren Smith joins us to share a column by Indianapolis Star writer Gregg Doyel, who is taking Michigan State administrators to task for their inaction with their former employee Larry Nassar.

Follow Lauren on Twitter.

You'll want to give this one a listen and share it with all of your sports fan friends.

Indianapolis Star sportswriter Zach Osterman joins us again to share a New York Times story about sports dynasty. The story is about the fabled Barcelona soccer club who just sold one of their brightest stars, but we also talk about the New York Yankees and The New England Patriots. We also managed to sneak in a Chicago Blackhawks reference and a brief conversation about the meaning of time.

All dynasties die, and Zach Osterman wants to understand the how and the why.

Read the story Zach is talking about.

Read Zach's own work.

Follow Zach on Twitter.

The first-ever weekend edition of the Best Story I've Heard Today, and the show's first ever monologue, highlights an incredible story of the fans of the NFL. 

How do you interact with your co-workers, or even your bosses in the gig economy? People driving for services like Uber and Lyft are figuring out a few ways. Spencer Elliott of The Tennessean and the USA Today Network tells about it in the best story he found today. Is it unique to those industries, or a sign of more to come? We talk about it in today's episode.

Here's the Fast Company article.

Follow Spencer on Twitter. 

The safe for a president, but NSFW edition!

Jamie Zega, former Indiana Daily Student editor-in-chief and soon to be of The Washington Post, joins us to talk about how newsrooms are now covering presidential profanities.

Jamie is a talented and thoughtful reporter, and we're glad she took the time to talk about these stories. Please do give it a listen. Read the New York Times piece and the Poynter piece she referenced.

And follow Jamie on Twitter.

Indianapolis Star sports writer Zach Osterman joins us to discuss the sentencing phase of Larry Nassar's trial. Nassar is the U.S. Olympics doctor charged with multiple accounts of the sexual abuse of young gymnasts in his care. Osterman shares with us this story from Yahoo Sports.

And I wanted to also point you to the excellent work on this story that has been done by Osterman's colleagues at The Indy Star. You can find that from the beginning. And you can see their latest coverage here. 

Finally, make sure you follow Zach Osterman on Twitter.