Sword and Pen

On this episode of the Sword and Pen, host Lori King speaks with navy veteran, MVJ member and NPR radio producer Jason Burrows. Burrows broke into radio onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln by volunteering for the ship's radio station, KRUZ-FM. After ETSing from the navy, he landed his first radio gig as the "Jack of all Trades" at 96.5 Jack-FM, where he served for 15 yea

On this episode of Sword and Pen, host Lori King speaks with army broadcast journalist Lance Milsted, a former Defense Information School instructor. Milsted, the chief of production services at DoD's Defense Media Activity (DMA) talks about his belief that everyone has a story to tell, and an important part of journalism is to tell those stories, to make people feel something,

On this episode of Sword and Pen, host Lori King speaks with investigative reporter and former marine infantryman James LaPorta, who, after exiting the military, broke into journalism by cold calling editors and agreeing to work for bylines. You are about to hear an inspiring story of how LaPorta, with no journalism experience or degree, tenaciously built a journalism career workin

On this episode of Sword and Pen, host Lori King speaks with journalism tool extraordinaire Mike Reilley, who just published his second book, The Journalist's Toolbox: A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI. Reilley has made it his mission since 1996 to continuously stock his trademarked online Journalism Toolbox with every kind of tool, resource and training you can imagine, incl

On this episode of Sword and Pen, host Lori King speaks with Air Force officer and filmmaker Allie Delury, who is celebrating her one-year anniversary of her production company, Work Our Way, on Dec. 30, 2023. Allie, who began her journalism and military career at the University of Minnesota, talks about her journey from tv reporter to business owner; what it was like going from so

On this special episode of Sword and Pen, host Lori King spoke with four attendees during the 2023 MVJ Convention held Oct. 5-7 in New York City. First up at the mic was Dan Clare, a Marine Corps and Air National Guard veteran. He was a military public affairs officer for 17 years, and is now the director of communications for DAV, Disabled American Veterans, who sponsored the MVJ

On this episode of Sword and Pen, host Lori King speaks with army veteran and freelance journalist Cyrus Norcross, one of MVJ's 2023 Top 10 Journalists of the Year. Cyrus, who was an army ranger for six years before pursuing journalism, talks about his Navajo Nation heritage, his winning entry that earned him the journalist of the year award, and his passion for telling stories

On this episode of Sword and Pen, we bring back MVJ president and co-founder Russell Midori to promote the MVJ 2023 Convention in New York City in October. We also chat with MVJ Mentorship Program manager Simone Doroski and mentorship alumni Jordan Sartor-Francis about a powerful program that pairs our members with journalism experts in the field. Listen as the guests > talk a

On this episode of Sword and Pen, we highlight the missions and roles of an Ohio Air National Guard public affairs office and its staff. The podcast was recorded out of 180th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office during their monthly drill in June 2023. Representing the wing's PA office: Public Affairs Officer Maj. Matt Eck; Senior Master Sgt. Beth Holliker; and two public affair

On this episode of Sword and Pen, guest Anthony Vazquez talks about his transition from being a landing support specialist in the marine corps to a visual journalist at the Chicago Sun-Times, a newspaper that canned its entire photo staff for journalists using smartphones in 2013. If you are a photojournalist, a journalist who takes their own images, a student who wants to be a vis