Telling The Story

Last spring, when so many of us were frightened and nervous at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world of journalism and the world as a whole felt chaotic and upended, Reshma Kirpalani leaned in. She cold-emailed a hospital group in south Florida to see if she could obtain access to its COVID unit, through videos shot by its employees. She received that access and embarked on a half-hour documentary ... that ultimately turned into five half-hours of an episodic series. She convinced her bosses at the Miami Herald and its parent company, McClatchy, to enable her to focus entirely on this project. And just as she was about to start putting it together, Kirpalani learned she had been laid off. McClatchy decided to eliminate Kirpalani's video team. For Kirpalani, it meant the end of not only regular paychecks but also the documentary she had poured nine months into producing. Or, at least, it would have meant the end ... if she hadn't fought to finish it. Kirpalani convinced her bosses to let her stay