AccessFest24 keynote: Tristan Ahtone in conversation with Mary Hudetz

Investigative Reporters and Editors is honored to announce that Tristan Ahtone will give the keynote address for AccessFest24, the organization's fourth virtual-by-design conference Oct. 17-19.

Ahtone serves as Editor at Large at Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization focused on climate solutions and environmental injustice. He will join in conversation with ProPublica reporter and IRE Board member Mary Hudetz.

Ahtone is an award-winning reporter, who previously served as Editor in Chief at the Texas Observer and Indigenous Affairs Editor at High Country News. He is a member of the Kiowa Tribe, most recently recognized by Covering Climate Now for his leadership on Grist’s “Misplaced Trust” investigation. 

Hudetz is an award-winning reporter at ProPublica, based in Albuquerque. She is an enrolled member of the Apsaalooke/Crow Tribe and focuses on investigating tribal issues throughout the Southwest. This year, Hudetz was honored with the Richard LaCourse Award for Investigative Journalism for her work on ProPublica’s “The Repatriation Project.” She was elected to the IRE Board of Directors in June.

“Their experiences and expertise will foster an important conversation at AccessFest24”, IRE Director of Diversity & Inclusion Francisco Vara-Orta said. Both Ahtone and Hudetz are also former presidents of the Indigenous Journalists Association.

“Both of them have been leaders in our journalism community,” Vara-Orta said. “For IRE members to hear from them is really crucial for us to continue to better report on historically marginalized communities — especially in the weeks leading up to an election, amid polarization and disinformation about communities that have not normally had a voice in mainstream media.”

The conference is centered around belonging, equity, and inclusion both in news coverage and within the newsroom. While the IRE and NICAR Conferences have some sessions on these topics, AccessFest allows journalists to dive deeper. The conference started out as the “DBEI Symposium” in 2021 and was rebranded as AccessFest last year.

The previous conferences have highlighted Black, Asian and Latino voices in the keynote conversation, including Anzio Williams of NBCUniversal, Sisi Wei of The Markup and Maria Hinojosa of Futuro Media.

“On the path to greater representation, we must center Indigenous voices,” Vara-Orta said. “It's critical that IRE includes as many voices and perspectives as possible.”

Another AccessFest highlight is the opportunity for attendees to get IRE’s more traditional investigative and data training — from anywhere in the world — at a fraction of the cost of the in-person conferences.

AccessFest24 will be held online Oct. 17-19. Get additional details and register for the conference here.