This podcast has profiled 250 journalists and counting.

In partnership with

And just like that, it's December! We made it! Right?

Most of you are wrapping up coursework for 2025, and I presume you’re still tweaking your spring syllabi, so here's something to consider for next semester.

My friend Mark Simon has put an enormous amount of time and energy into The Journalism Salute, a podcast series produced with students in mind.

It's a passion project of his that began five years ago and spans more than 250 episodes. “The Journalism Salute has been providing weekly interviews with journalists about who they are and what they do,” he explained in a recent email.

His podcast values guest diversity: He told me 65% of his interviews are women, and half are people of color. Many come from non-profits or student newsrooms; all 50 states and a wide variety of beats are covered. He's even produced episode guides for professors, which include questions for discussion and class activities. One has links to more than 50 episodes, while another is specific to his 2025 interviews, broken down into five categories (such as local news, feature writing and investigative reporting).

I asked Mark for some short highlights and he provided the following:

• Javeria Salman, a Muslim journalist, then of The Hechinger Report, who told the story of covering a Trump rally at her school:

• Former sports reporter and reporter at NBC BLK Curtis Bunn warned about artificial intelligence, explaining that a reporter can get goosebumps and feel the importance of an event ... AI can't:

• Transgender journalist Erin Reed explains how she can report on transgender-related issues without being biased:

• Freelance reporter Emma Restrepo explains why she loves being a journalist even as she "suffers" while trying to write:

• Science journalist Humberto Basilio explains how English as a second language can be an advantage because it ensures the reporter has to keep things simple:

Plenty of episodes even feature student journalists.

For a full list of episodes and categories, head on over to thejournalismsalute.org, or subscribe to Mark’s newsletter to get updated on new episodes.

Hopefully that's enough of a taste to get you to commit to Mark's project. Now, on with this week's college journalism news.

Create a Branded Coaching Ecosystem - All In One Platform

Most coaches think growth comes from launching new programs.

Julie Ciardi scaled to a 7-figure business by doing the opposite, she built a coaching ecosystem on Kajabi that keeps clients engaged all year long and organically attracts new clients through word-of-mouth.

In this free live workshop, Julie reveals the exact Kajabi setup that drove her 150% year-over-year revenue growth, 65% client retention, and a jump from 150 to 750+ clients in her second year.

You’ll see how she connects her courses, private podcast, community portal, and mobile app into one seamless experience that removes friction, creates daily touchpoints, and keeps clients coming back.

She’ll also share the Kajabi course template she uses to build her coaching hub.

Register for the Workshop

You could buy yourself something nice, you know.