Career Q & A session

What is your Back Story?

Last summer, I set out to establish our newsroom collective called The Modern Journalism Project. Homicides in Kansas City tragically were reaching record highs at that time. So we set out to interview multiple people to gain a perspective on the big picture of what is happening. We attended a Redlining Exhibition at a local museum that went in-depth to explain why parts of east Kansas City, where a vast majority of homicides were occurring. Inequality has developed for decades from redlining city areas and many other towns in the midwest. Redlining rules that some regions of KC are arbitrarily deemed not as viable anymore when white families move to the suburbs. Leaving the city core and eastern neighborhoods to decay and becoming underdeveloped and under-invested. Schools aren’t as high of a quality. Food deserts mean access to healthy food isn’t an option. Poverty, as a result, becomes an epidemic. So we both uncovered and learned for ourselves the challenges facing these communities. We plan on extending our coverage of this issue this year and, with that, business owner perspectives and solutions already in the works by local entrepreneurs, leaders, and citizens. One of our approaches to further enhance our coverage of this gun violence and homicides topic is transportation. Many people don’t have access to basic needs such as food, education, and transportation. We are working to uncover the link to these issues to help empower solutions that will inspire positive change in our community.

What is The Memo?

A multi-facet approach to coverage would be my forte. For instance, in Kansas City, Missouri, there has been a tragic and troubling rise in the disappearances of African American women. Along a corridor called “Prospect,” women have gone missing; however, local law enforcement has primarily dismissed reports from family members and friends of many women over the past few years. My approach to this investigation would be to reach out to these friends and families to get their perspective, law enforcement, and local businesses and track down potential witnesses along the Prospect corridor. This would be one topic I am very interested in covering and investigating in my region.

Paul Michael: Investigative Journalist (📸 credit Eli Anderson)

A Positive Pledge

The Modern Journalism Project is an investigative newsroom based in Kansas City, Missouri, dedicated in 2023 to bringing unique stories to form.