Sound Judgment takes listeners into the studios — and the minds — of your favorite audio storytellers. In each episode, lifelong journalist Elaine Appleton Grant and a top audio creator deconstruct one of their episodes. It’s not just a revealing conversation about the art and craft of audio storytelling, it’s a sound-rich narrative interview: Elaine plays back clips from her guest’s podcast. Together, they explore the storyteller’s creative choices in a “living learning lab.”

&lt;p&gt;On May 6, 2024, &lt;i&gt;The 13th Step&lt;/i&gt; team was honored with a Pulitzer Prize nomination for audio reporting &quot;for their gripping and extensively reported investigation of corruption and sexual abuse within the lucrative recovery industry that sought accountability despite legal pressure.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today, we go behind the scenes, once again, with New Hampshire Public Radio Reporter Lauren Chooljian and Story Editor Alison MacAdam to learn their techniques for ensuring journalistic accuracy and fairness as they faced attempts at intimidation. And this close team learned how to create a &quot;trauma-informed workplace&quot; -- and how emotional support techniques helped them to keep going.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is Part 2 of &quot;Behind the blockbuster investigative series The 13th Step: The best defense is the truth.&quot; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Listen to Part 1&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.soundjudgmentpodcast.com/how-to-find-the-truth-behind-the-blockbuster-investigative-series-the-13th-step/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;How to Find the Truth: Behind the Blockbuster Investigative Series The 13th Step&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Takeaways from today&#039;s episode include: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. In today&#039;s journalistic and political environment, the best defense is the truth. That means using every reporting strategy you can to make sure all of your reporting is factual, precise, backed up with evidence and well organized.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;2.  Corroborate, corroborate, corroborate. In your story or series, explain that you corroborated your facts and how you did.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;3. Transparency is key. Paint thorough, fair portraits of your subjects. Human beings are complex and contradictory. This tension makes for fascinating stories and builds credibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;4. Newsroom or network leadership needs to be as committed to your journalism as you are. Depending on the circumstances, they may need to pay legal fees, tap insurance and even fund security.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;5. Chooljian had two huge reasons to continue reporting, even after she, her family, and her newsroom were targeted in a rash of criminal threats.  The first: Her sources had bravely stepped forward to share their stories with her. Doing so put them at risk — as she says, a risk they took without the kinds of organizational, financial and legal resources available to her. Second: Backing down would have sent a signal to others that retaliation works. That&#039;s unacceptable.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;###&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Follow &lt;i&gt;Sound Judgment &lt;/i&gt;on your favorite podcast app or subscribe to our channel &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/@SoundJudgmentPod&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@SoundJudgmentPod&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;on Youtube. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For more takeaways from this episode on crafting an investigative series and why accountability journalism is so important, visit &lt;a href=&quot;https://current.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Current. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Listen to the series deconstructed on today&#039;s show: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.13thsteppodcast.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The 13th Step. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Starting your own podcast?  Be strategic with our &lt;a href=&quot;https://podcastallies.com/workshops/show-bible-workbook&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Sound Judgment Show Bible Workbook. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Want to learn more about how NHPR&#039;s Document Team greenlights projects like &lt;i&gt;The 13th Step&lt;/i&gt; to begin with? Listen to  &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.soundjudgmentpodcast.com/how-to-pitch-an-audio-documentary-and-the-unusual-origin-of-a-this-american-life-story/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;How to Pitch an Audio Documentary and the Unusual Origin of a This American Life story.&quot; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More about &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The 13th Step&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.13thsteppodcast.org/about&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Read about the team&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.13thsteppodcast.org/documents&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Check out  the supporting legal documents&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.13thsteppodcast.org/resources-further-reading&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Resources on addiction treatment, substance use disorder, sexual misconduct, and more&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Follow Lauren Chooljian&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-chooljian-2b116434/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Twitter/X:  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;@laurenchooljian&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Follow Alison MacAdam&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-macadam-b2ab2bb7/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Threads:  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;strong&gt;@ajmacadam&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;<br />
&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Improve your storytelling &lt;/strong&gt;Check out our popular workshops on interviewing, story editing, story structure, longform narrative, audience engagement, guesting, scriptwriting and more.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hire&lt;/strong&gt; Elaine to speak at your conference or company. Subjects include: Effective Storytelling; Communicating for Leaders; Communicating about Change; Mastering the Art of the Interview; Success in Guesting, and much more.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Discover &lt;/strong&gt;our strategic communication services and coaching for thought leaders using storytelling tools to make the world a better place. Serving writers, podcasters, public speakers, and others in journalism &amp;amp; public media, climate change, health care, policy, and higher education. Visit us at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.podcastallies.com&quot;&gt;www.podcastallies.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://soundjudgment.substack.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Subscribe to Sound Judgment, the Newsletter,&lt;/a&gt; our twice-monthly newsletter about creative choices in audio storytelling.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Connect:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/elaine.a.grant/&quot;&gt;Facebook&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.linkedin.com/in/appletongrant/&quot;&gt;LinkedIn&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/soundjudgmentpod&quot;&gt;Instagram&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;✉️ Email Elaine at allies@podcastallies.com&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;💜 &lt;a href=&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-judgment/id1643414362&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Leave a review on Apple Podcasts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;🟢 &lt;a href=&quot;https://open.spotify.com/show/3hRKcZjxV648UmUH98Te4d?si=9dc1da571cb44a12&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Leave a rating on Spotify&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;🗣️ Share the show by word of mouth and on your socials&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Help us find and celebrate today’s best hosts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;Who’s your Sound Judgment dream guest? Email me: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:allies@podcastallies.com&quot;&gt;allies@podcastallies.com&lt;/a&gt;. Because of you, that host may appear on Sound Judgment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Credits&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Sound Judgment is a production of &lt;/i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://dashboard.simplecast.com/accounts/18eb3e16-b2fe-43de-8edd-1e80c07e2aa3/shows/c1685ff0-f215-4bea-80ff-1a461a015253/episodes/a8f824dd-5b06-4ddf-9391-febab2f0a094/www.podcastallies.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Podcast Allies, LLC.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Host: Elaine Appleton Grant&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Podcast Manager: Tina Bassir&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Production Manager: Andrew Parrella&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Audio Engineer: Kevin Kline&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Production Assistant: Audrey Nelson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Sound Judgment

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