BEST WORK
More public universities recruit affluent out-of-state students at expense of poorer, in-state ones
This is the first investigative, data-intensive story I have ever done. I wrote it right after
I took a data-reporting course where I learned how to use Excel fusion table and SQL.
This story came as the result of an extensive report I came across. The report found
that public institutions tend to recruit more wealthy, smart students from out of state
at the expense of less affluent in-state students. I immediately thought about localizing
these findings, because 1) I wanted to apply skills I learned in the data-reporting
course to my real-world reporting right away 2) Higher education is always a rich topic
that concerns people across generations. It’s important to inform the local public of
how public universities might have failed some of them for higher revenues and
rankings. I read through hundreds of pages of printed-out and electronic datasets, and
used data skills I just learned to successfully sort through all of this data and find
trends behind them. This story won the first place in investigative reporting in
Missouri Press Assocaition's 2016 Better Newspaper Contest.
Welfare reform produces mixed results 20 years later
This story is ready to be published by Missouri Business Alert. The story idea came
from a Marketplace report, which reveals mixed results produced by the 1996 welfare
reform. I told a story of an ill-founded welfare system and broken promises from
Missouri's perspective. I’m proud of it for three reasons. 1) I faced a ton of inconsistencies from welfare recipients I interviewed. Because of the lack of reliable transportation and
communication tools, many TANF recipients I spoke to showed up one day and
disappeared the next day. It was also hard to expect many of them to show up on time.
2) My editor and I spent hours making sure this story was impactful yet fair to all
involved. 3) I encountered and eventually overcame many ethical dilemmas. For
instance, what am I supposed to do when my interviewee asks for a ride or money to
buy a dinner after an interview?
Touched by changing subsidies and markets, cotton farmers feel growing uncertainty
In the summer of 2016, I was a commodity beat reporter at Missouri Business Alert. I knew very little about agricultural commodities before I took over the beat. During one of the
farmers’ meetings I attended, I overheard more than a dozen of cotton farmers
complain about the low subsidies provided by a newly established one-time payment
program, Cotton Ginning Cost Share program. Following these farmers’ complaints, I
learned from my after-hour reporting that Missouri cotton farmers had been suffering
from continuous price declines while the state government hadn’t provided a solution
to fundamentally ease their pain. As the harvest season approached, I was curious
about how these farmers were holding up. I talked my editor into letting me drive five
hours down to Missouri Bootheel region where Missouri cotton grows. With a pen, a
notebook and a camera, I spent the day there, walking in the fields, speaking to
farmers in their trucks and visiting their warehouses. That was the first time in my life
that I went to a farm field and sat in a cotton picker while taking notes. I’m quite
proud of the story I came back with. About a week after the story was published, Chris
Porter, the newly elected president of Cotton Producers of Missouri, called me and
told me that his fellow farmers were really happy that their concerns were heard and
told by the press.
Business Beat: Health care industry explores power of digital storytelling (radio story)
After being diagnosed with HIV 18 years ago, Deana Hayes was so frustrated that she left Missouri. It took her three years to come back and confront the disease. This piece is about how digital storytelling is used in health care to help patients heal.
Project Exile: Chinese dissident forced from family
This is a Q&A that features a famous Chinese journalist who is on exile in Germany. It's published by Global Journalist, a weekly radio show that reports on the state of press freedom, journalistic ethics and independent media across the world. Since the topic of the article was sensitive and could potentially threaten me as a Chinese citizen, the editor used "Global Journalist Staff" as byline.
Property owners join forces to revitalize Business Loop
Forty years ago, Business Loop 70 was an oasis for business and leisure travelers: a busy two-lane stretch of road with parking lots, hotels and restaurants. The past several decades, however, have seen the former commercial hub in north- central Columbia decline.
Gig Economy Project
I spent the fall of 2016 delving into the gig economy, a rising economic phenomenon
characterized by independent or contract-based work. This whole project consists of a
bi-weekly blog that explores the news, numbers and individuals at the heart of the
economy, and four stand-alone stories that illustrate what this economic
phenomenon in terms of labor market, public policy, people and education. I traveled to more than a dozen cities in Missouri and spoke to people doing various types of gigs. I interviewed Missouri gubernatorial
candidates, politicians, educators, researchers, AFL-CIO leaders, etc. This is one of the
longest and most enlightening projects I have ever done. Through all the reporting, I
am able to explain to the public about what the gig economy is exactly about and why it
matters. I also used multimedia components such as videos and infographics to make
my coverage appeal to a broad public.