Louisville Public Media has selected Kate Howard as managing editor to lead the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the award-winning newsroom created in 2013.
Howard joined KyCIR in 2016 an investigative reporter specializing in higher education and government accountability. Her work has been the recipient of a national Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) award and numerous state and regional awards. She has served as interim managing editor since February.
“KyCIR’s team fills a crucial role in Kentucky — strong, in-depth watchdog journalism about issues that matter to Kentuckians,” Howard said. “I am so proud to be managing editor of this team, and I’m committed to continuing this important work.”
Each year since its inception, KyCIR has broken some of the biggest stories in the state. In the last year alone, the team exposed local police who were helping federal officials conduct immigration arrests and a system of derelict animal shelters throughout Kentucky. The team’s reporting also exposed a longstanding infestation of bedbugs in public housing among some of Louisville’s most vulnerable tenants.
KyCIR won a prestigious Peabody Award, which recognizes the nation’s most powerful storytelling, this year for “The Pope’s Long Con.” The story and podcast was considered among “the best of the best” out of 1,200 entries in television, radio, podcast and web programming in 2017. KyCIR has also been recognized nationally with awards from IRE and the Edward R. Murrow Award.
“During the past two years, Kate has produced reporting with impact at KyCIR, from her groundbreaking coverage of the University of Louisville to her stories about federal immigration officials and local police, which led to positive change in both policy and law,” said LPM Interim President Stephen George. “Strong local journalism is as important as ever, and Kate is the right leader to take KyCIR into the future — a tough, fair journalist with a passion for truth and a deep knowledge of the tools to seek it.”
Prior to LPM, Howard worked as a news reporter for nearly five years at The Tennessean, covering crime, courts and transportation. She also spent more than three years at the Florida Times-Union covering higher education, health and crime issues, and more than two years writing about higher education at the Omaha World-Herald.
Howard assumes her role as managing editor effective immediately. She succeeds Brendan McCarthy, who led KyCIR since its inception in 2013 and left early this year to become deputy projects editor at the Boston Globe.