AP vice president Ron Nixon discusses investigative reporting with Media School students
Ron Nixon, Associated Press vice president of news, investigative, enterprise, grants, and partnerships, visited The Media School at IU on Sept. 5 and 6 to discuss investigative reporting and meet with journalism students.
Throughout his visit, Nixon spoke to students at an Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism bootcamp, attended a brown bag luncheon in The Media School commons, and visited Kathleen Johnston’s Investigative Reporting class.
Johnston, who is also the Arnolt Center director, said the center hosts a bootcamp each week in the fall to give students the opportunity to speak with Media School professors and guest speakers.
As last week’s guest speaker, Nixon talked to the students about the global reach of the Associated Press and how the publication is conducting investigative stories.
Nixon, who worked at The New York Times before joining the Associated Press, also talked about his background. As a music major in college, Nixon said he started writing music reviews for an internship he had at a small newspaper in South Carolina. He said it wasn’t until he was assigned to write a story about a police incident that he learned about investigative reporting.
Johnston said what made Nixon’s visit so enthralling was the wonderfully told story of his background.
“He grew up in a town of less than 400 people on the Mississippi-Alabama line and he got into journalism accidentally,” she said. “At one point, he could play 21 instruments. Match that with the kind of investigative work he’s done. We are just lucky that he wanted to come to IU. It’s just a good thing for the students to be able to talk to someone of that caliber.”
At the bootcamp, Nixon also spoke with students about a new partnership between the Arnolt Center and the Associated Press. Johnston said the Associated Press will work with a team of students, led by IU senior Emma Uber, to produce an investigative story. Alongside this new partnership with the Associated Press, the center is also partnering with Gray TV, Capital Chronicle, The Indy Star, and Investigate Midwest.
Uber said she is excited to work with Nixon and the Associated Press as she and her team begin the reporting process. Uber said his visit was educational.
“He was super willing to answer student questions and explain his progress throughout the year,” Uber said. “I learned a lot about not only his personal path in journalism but also learned about things that are marketable and valued in journalism today.”
In giving advice to students, Nixon also talked about the challenges of investigative reporting.
“The biggest thing you have to understand is that whenever you do these investigations, there is going to be pushback and criticism,” he said. “It takes a lot of time for some of these things to get done. Sometimes it takes weeks, months, or even years. You have to have that persistence and it’s really hard.”
Johnston said she feels lucky that Nixon wanted to come visit IU and hopes this is the beginning of a long partnership with the Associated Press.