Meet Kailey Broussard, the Star-Telegram’s new Arlington reporter
I moved to Texas unsure what covering a city would look like amid a pandemic and as people across the country protest police brutality. As the Star-Telegram’s new Arlington reporter, I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
I spent my first few days (and some nights) covering protests around Arlington and learning the city layout by march routes that wound through UT Arlington, past AT&T Stadium and across Interstate 30. Along the way, I’ve met officials, community leaders and residents who graciously walked me through the issues that concern them. After only a few hours covering events, it’s clear that residents have questions about their city, ranging from their city council’s ongoing term limits discussion to how agencies will find ways to root out racial inequity and disparity in Arlington. Days later, I listened as people asked Arlington City Council members to make good on their recently passed resolutions to explore racial inequities across local agencies.
Truthfully, I left work each day with my head spinning as I thought about how to report deeper on a city of nearly 400,000 residents. While I have covered events and protests for the last couple of weeks, I want to take my reporting beyond the news of the day. I want to provide deeper context, background and exploration of important issues. But I need your help.
For the next year, I will cover Arlington full-time for the Star-Telegram in partnership with Report for America, a national initiative by the nonprofit organization GroundTruth Project. My position, along with 225 other reporters around the U.S., was created to fill gaps in reporting left by shrinking newsrooms and closed media outlets. As an Arlington reporter, I want to empower community discussions through in-depth reporting that illuminates residents’ needs and concerns. By highlighting voices, especially those that have not before been heard, I want to equip you with the knowledge and context you need to make decisions about your life and community.
Please consider filling out this two-minute questionnaire at https://bit.ly/FWSTArlington on the issues you would like to see covered. Additionally, my reporting relies in part on community donations. If you support the Star-Telegram’s mission to rejuvenate local reporting in Arlington, consider donating. Your contribution will fund my position through this year, with the possibility of funding future city reporters. If you’re not a subscriber, you can also support our reporting efforts by subscribing to the Star-Telegram at star-telegram.com/subscribe.
I am honored to join the Star-Telegram along with Haley Samsel, another Report for America journalist who is covering environmental issues related to fast-paced development in Tarrant County. As a Louisiana native, I have always admired the reporting that has come out of North Texas. My undergraduate journalism experience at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette centered on the years I spent reporting on the school and city for both my student paper and The Advocate, the state’s largest daily paper.
Before moving to Texas, I earned my master’s in journalism at Arizona State University, where I reported on a range of regional, national and international stories. I spent my last semester in Washington, D.C., reporting for Arizona PBS on Arizona’s delegation. My work during graduate school has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, PBS NewsHour and numerous Arizona publications. Through my work in Arizona, I learned how to report deeper on national and international issues from award-winning investigative journalists and editors and developed an appreciation for multimedia and data journalism.
I am thrilled to return to hyperlocal reporting as I begin my year in Arlington. As much as I enjoyed chasing stories on Capitol Hill and across the southwest U.S., I missed the feeling of being plugged into a community. I hope to use the experiences I had digging into local stories as well as national ones. With your help, I hope to be just as plugged in to the city of Arlington.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
