Investigative Journalism Critical for Accurate Reporting

Guest: Kathleen Johnston

Interviewer: Jim Allison

April 14, 2025

In April, the Civic Conversations podcast welcomed Kathleen Johnston, the founding director of the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University, and an IU alumna. She is a 30-year veteran of investigative journalism and a Media School professor of practice. Johnston has worked at numerous national and local news organizations, including The Indianapolis News, CBS, the Birmingham Post-Herald, and CNN. She has won countless regional and national honors, including Emmy, Peabody, and Murrow awards. In 2017, she received The Media School's Distinguished Alumni Award.

Johnston discussed the mission of the Arnolt Center and broke down the role of investigative journalists in today's media world. We talked about changes in today's media world and how disinformation and the loss of local news have impacted the ability to get fair and accurate information. “We need more journalists to counter these issues,” said Johnston. “The press is the cornerstone of our democracy, and it is more important now than ever.”

Wetlands and Why They Are Important

Guest: Anne Kibbler

Interviewer: Jim Allison

March 25, 2025

This month, we welcome Anne Kibbler to discuss the importance of Indiana's wetlands. Kibbler wrote about environmental issues for the “Down to Earth” page for The Herald-Times. She later worked for five years as the editor of Indiana Environmental Reporter at Indiana University's Media School until the publication lost its funding in 2023.

Kibbler shared that wetlands are important because they serve as a haven for endangered plants and animals, absorb excess water, which helps prevent flooding, and filter out pollution. “Wetlands,” said Kibbler, “are like a person’s kidneys.”

Two hundred years ago, Indiana had 5.5 million acres of wetlands, but now it has only 800,000 acres. Until 2021, Indiana had stronger wetlands protections than many other states. Since that period, however, the Indiana legislature has significantly loosened regulations, allowing people to build more in areas once designated as wetlands.

Podcast Features School Vouchers and Impact on Public Schools

Guest: Steve Hinnefeld

Interviewer: Jim Allison

February 12, 2025

For our February podcast, Civic Conversations talked to Steve Hinnefeld, author of the nationally recognized blog School Matters. Hinnefeld is a longtime journalist and writer in Bloomington. The discussion centered on how the school voucher program has evolved and its impact on Indiana's public schools. Hinnefeld explained how vouchers work and how they have become universal due to last year's legislative expansion of eligibility requirements.  Governor Braun's recent budget proposal removed all income restrictions from the voucher program. “Indiana is spending a lot of money on school vouchers that could be spent on public school funds,” said Hinnefeld.

IU Collaborates to Combat AIDS and Other Diseases

Guest: Jim Kelly

Host: Ralf Shaw, LWV-BMC

January 14, 2025

In January, Civic Conversations welcomed Indiana University's Media School Professor Jim Kelly. We talked about his book, From AIDS to Population Health: How an American University and a Kenyan Medical School Transformed Health Care in East Africa. Kelly explained how the AMPATH-Academic Model for Providing Access to Healthcare was formed by Indiana University physicians interested in starting a program of sharing medical expertise between Kenya, Africa, and Indiana University during the AIDS crisis. In 2001, in response to the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic, the partners united their efforts to establish one of Africa's largest, most comprehensive, and effective HIV/AIDS control systems. The consortium consists of nine members: Indiana University School of Medicine, Brown University School of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, Providence Portland Medical Center, Purdue University, University of Utah School of Medicine, University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, and University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. Today, in collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the United States government, AMPATH is expanding its focus beyond HIV to address the pressing needs for primary healthcare, chronic disease care, and specialty care. Kelly has long been interested in the program and decided that he wanted to document the program in photographs and text.