On this episode we’re joined by Nevin Kallepalli. Nevin was a reporter for Shasta Scout, a non-profit newsroom serving Shasta County, California.

We’ve talked to a lot of California-based reporters but I think Nevin is the first we’ve talked to in a politically-conservative part of the state. The demographics of Shasta are overwhelmingly white.

Nevin was a local news fellow who is particularly interested in covering religion. This was his first foray into daily reporting and he was a finalist for an award from the Institute for Non-Profit News this year. He’s a graduate of UCLA with a masters from Columbia, and while there he worked for the Whitney Museum.

We talked with Nevin about his journalism origin story and some of the prominent stories he covered. He explained how he was able to cover a community with vastly different demographics from his in a fair and empathetic way. This is a good episode for early-career or student journalists wondering about what the local news experience is like.

Nevin’s salutes: CalMatters and The Sacramento Bee

Nevin’s story on police tactics:

Using Suspects’ Faces, RPD Weaves Compellingly Pro-Police Narratives. It’s a Practice that’s Known to Cause Harm.

Other notable stories

Could forced treatment for substance use help stabilize the chronically homeless? One Shasta mother says it’s her best hope
To save her daughter’s life, she advocated for her rights to be taken away

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