More than 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. reported having a disability in 2022, yet people with disabilities have long been underrepresented in news coverage and in newsrooms. To explore this topic — and related concerns facing the news industry — IRE’s 2024 AccessFest Conference featured a panel titled, “Supporting journalists with disabilities and improving disability coverage.” 

In this episode of IRE Radio, you will hear excerpts from the panel featuring: 
• Pauline Arrillaga, executive director of the National Center on Disability and Journalism at ASU and former writer and editor for AP News
• Samantha Hernandez, an education reporter at the Des Moines Register 
• Denise-Marie Ordway, managing editor for The Journalist's Resource at Harvard University
• Wendy Lu, a senior staff editor at The New York Times and a global speaker on disability representation in the media

Ordway also contributed an essay based on the panel to the Q4 2024 edition of The IRE Journal.

IRE Radio is distributed across several podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and Amazon Podcasts. A full text transcript of the episode is available when accessed through the Apple Podcasts mobile app. Please contact editorial@ire.org if you need any assistance.

Production credit: Graduate editorial assistant Nakylah Carter hosts the podcast. IRE editorial director Doug Meigs edits the script. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Music credit: Thoughtfulness (De Wolfe Music)

IRE Radio: Supporting journalists with disabilities

Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. IRE was formed in 1975 to create a forum in which journalists throughout the world could help each other by sharing story ideas, newsgathering techniques and news sources.