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Western Kentucky University’s School of Journalism & Broadcasting is pleased to welcome New York Times investigative reporter Nikita Stewart back to her alma mater as the guest lecturer for the 12^th annual John B. Gaines Family Lecture Series. The free event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, April 25, in Mass Media & Technology Hall (MMTH) auditorium on WKU’s campus.

Stewart, previously of the Washington Post and the Louisville Courier-Journal, will address the importance of reporting at the municipal level even in the era in which many of us regularly consume national or international news. Her talk is titled:  “Covering Your City: Why Investigative Reporting is Most Important at the Local Level.”  

“The John B. Gaines Family Lecture Series provides a great opportunity every year to bring an outstanding journalist to the School to interact with students and faculty,” said Loup Langton, director of WKU’s School of Journalism & Broadcasting. “This year, we take great joy in welcoming Nikita Stewart, one of our very successful alums who has raised the bar in local reporting at two of the nation’s premier newspapers.”

Stewart is a reporter for the Metro section of the New York Times, where she covers social services with a focus on New York City Hall and homelessness. Prior to joining the Times, she worked at the Washington Post for more than nine years covering D.C. City Hall and writing for the investigative team. When she left the Washington Post in 2014, Stewart’s editor called her “one of the best beat reporters we’ve ever seen” in a memo to the Post’s staff about her departure, according to Politico.

“Nikita Stewart returns to WKU as an accomplished reporter with a record of writing important stories about the cities and communities she has covered,” said Professor Amanda J. Crawford, who serves as chairwoman of the lecture series committee. “It is a real pleasure to bring back one of our own graduates who has so much knowledge to share with our current students.”

For most of Stewart’s career, she has written about local politics and government, from her days as a young reporter at the Louisville Courier-Journal to years later at the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey. She is a 1994 graduate of WKU’s journalism program whose first paying job in journalism was at the Bowling Green Daily News.

For more information on the John B. Gaines Family Lecture Series, contact the WKU School of Journalism & Broadcasting at (270) 745-4144.