Megan Leonhardt, economics reporter at Barron's, shares her unconventional journey from aspiring food and travel writer to data-obsessed financial journalist – despite being terrible at math and taking her macro and micro econ classes as summer school courses. In this conversation, she reveals what it takes to break through at a top-tier publication, why she recently told a longtime source his AI-generated pitches are unusable, and what PR pros get wrong when pitching data journalists. Megan discusses navigating multimedia demands with candid insights on the route to creating a distinctive pitch.

Peter Valdes-Dapena has lived every major shift in modern journalism, from the first digital newsrooms to today’s algorithm-driven landscape. In this episode, he speaks with Larissa Padden about what’s changed, what’s been lost, and the signals that point to where the industry is moving next. They cover the rise of Substack, Peter’s own Substack InCar, the pressure on freelancers, and the role of AI in news discovery.

Jon Swartz, Techstrong reporter and former USA Today technology correspondent, shares his journey from small-town Georgia newspaper to Silicon Valley insider. He reveals why journalism still matters in PR strategies, which stories break through the noise, and what happens when local newspapers disappear. Drawing from decades covering everyone from Apple to defunct startups, Swartz explains why the best reporters still pick up the phone, why he avoids writing too seriously about himself, and how the death of local news creates PR challenges no one anticipated.