Meet Your Fresno Bee Journalists

Fresno Bee reporters are used to conducting the interviews. But at a “Meet Your Bee Journalists” event next month, we’ll talk a bit about what we do, then be on the receiving end of questions from you, the audience.

The free gathering will be downtown 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 18 at the Factory 41 at 2721 Cesar Chavez Blvd., Fresno.

Visit Eventbrite.com and search “Meet Your Bee Journalists” to RSVP.

For reporters to be effective, they must know their community: What issues matter to residents? What questions do they want asked and answered? “Meet Your Bee Journalists” is an opportunity for our staff to hear from residents, and to shed a light on what we do.

Some areas of coverage are self-explanatory: education, breaking news, agriculture. But what does accountability reporting mean? What are equity issues, and why do they matter? How can your voice be heard?

“One of our goals this year is for reporters and editors to engage more with the community so that we do a better job of explaining why we make certain decision and choose to pursue certain stories,” said senior editor Christopher Kirkpatrick. “We always want to increase the opportunities for our readers to tell us directly what questions they have and what they are concerned about.”

For this first event, expect to meet:

• Christopher Kirkpatrick: Senior Editor
• Juan Esparza Loera: Opinion editor. Former editor of Vida en el Valle from 1990 to 2024.
• Joshua Tehee: Breaking news reporter. Writes on a wide range of topics from police, politics and weather, to arts and entertainment in the Central Valley.
• Leqi Zhong: Clovis accountability/enterprise reporter. She joined The Bee in 2023 as an education reporter.

Also check out other Arts events in Fresno.