The Department of Communication at Saint Xavier University hosted an event with investigative journalist Adam Rhodes, Training Director for Investigative Reporters and Editors. The presentation focused on investigative reporting and the skills required to be a successful investigative reporter.
Throughout the presentation, Rhodes encouraged students by making it a point that any journalist has the capability to become an investigative reporter, they just need to be curious and “ask the extra question.”
They further explained that being a successful investigative reporter does not require expensive and exhaustive resources. In fact, contrary to popular belief, it really comes down to an individual journalist’s willingness to get the truth of a story that will determine their success.
An additional point of conversation during Rhodes’ presentation, whose work is mainly focused on the queer community and the criminal justice system, was the current state and importance of investigative journalism.
Rhodes insisted that it is an investigative journalist’s job to inform the public about political figures, to make sure these leaders are not “abusing their power”, and to make the public aware if they should misuse their positions.
IRE is a non-profit organization, based out of the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. Their mission is to improve “ the quality of investigative reporting”.
When asked questions about this event, Saint Xavier’s professor and chair Brad Mello stated that SXU was able to welcome Rhodes because “The Department of Communication applied for a grant directed at HSI’s to fund a variety of training sponsored by the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) which we were awarded in the Spring of 2022.”
He went on to say that events like these will help students because “hearing from current working journalists will provide a broader perspective for students about careers students may pursue upon graduation.”
When asked if more events like this will take place at SXU in the future, he responded “We hope to have a similar session with representatives from The Broadcast Education Association and The National Association of Hispanic Journalists sometime in the Spring semester.”
Natalie Chibe, a student who attended this event, had only good things to say about it, giving the quote “It was great! I like how they explained things in detail. The presentation was very informative and helpful for communication majors, because they went through how to write a FOIA and different investigative reporting tactics. I thought it was a great presentation that had a lot of depth to it. It wasn’t boring at all.”
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