" My dad was a character. He was always the life of the room whatever room he was in. He was a very kind person who would give you the shirt off his back. there would give you the shirt off his back, very kind person.
He was a refuge for people who were down on their luck or going through some rough times. A lot of my memories with him are food. I think every server in Waffle House knew me and my dad by name.
He was a fun guy, a really caring person and somebody who taught me what unconditional love was."
Our interview subject this week was Justin Baxley, who was in the process of transitioning to a new job after working for three years as a digital content manager for 13 WMAZ in Macon, Georgia.
Justin's father Michael was killed in 2017 in what is believed to be a robbery (multiple arrests were made just this February). Justin went through the experience of grieving his father while having to deal with probes from many different media outlets and having to deal with things such as cleaning his father's blood in his home (a relative took care of it).
The experience was such that when Justin received a Poynter fellowship he used it to create a program, More Than A Number, that empathetically gives the families of murder victims control in the process of journalists telling their relative's life story. That includes a resource guide to assist them as they grieve their loss.
" I walk them through the rights that they have as victims," Justin said. "Things they have access to. I didn't know that homeowner's insurance will actually cover the cleanup of the blood. My cousin ended up doing that. We didn't know that was something that was available to us. I would never want a family to have to go through that."
Justin called the resource guide "the biggest game changer."
"I've had a lot of victims reach out to me since then and told me there's just so much in there that they didn't know or didn't realize it was available to them and how appreciative they were of that," he said.
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We talked to Justin about what he went through and all that More Than A Number does. But we also shared a complete picture of his life, talking about his journalism origin story, some of the stories he covered as a reporter, and how he views the profession as he embarks on a new challenge.
"I'm leaving Macon for the first time in my life. It's a big transition. Leaving behind the only home I've ever known to go out and do journalism elsewhere is gonna be tough. I do feel like that what's pushing me in that direction is my dad.
I think he'd want me to go out and explore the world and not feel stuck. He was one of the most supportive people you could have in your corner. Looking down on me now, he's probably incredibly proud of the things that I've been able to accomplish since his death and in part, inspired by his death."
Thank you for reading (and hopefully listening too).
Quotes above were edited for clarity and length.