Adam Rhodes
journalist, data nerd, dog dad
(any pronouns!)
About Me
I am a queer, first-generation Cuban American, and I devote my work to uncovering corruption and wrongdoing in our nation's criminal legal systems.
My reporting has shined a light on struggles to access HIV treatment, numerous homophobic murder trials, and this country's history of criminalizing queerness.
Right now, I'm a training director at Investigative Reporters & Editors Inc. — out of the University of Missouri's school of journalism — where I train newsrooms across the country on investigative reporting techniques.
Over the course of my career, I have investigated racism in Chicago's Boystown neighborhood, a racist, homophobic law that criminalizes HIV in Illinois, controversial surgeries on minors, anti-gay criminal cases, and how access to HIV treatment in Puerto Rico has been impacted by colonialism, natural disasters, a multibillion-dollar debt crisis and now, the pandemic.
My Expertise
Public Records
FOIA, open data portals, you name it! I am a seasoned public records hound.
Long form Writing
I pride myself on telling dynamic, complicated stories with care and nuance.
Data
Analysis
I'm skilled using data (public or otherwise) to add crucial context and depth to my work.
Social justice Journalism
I specialize in work that focuses on how systems impact our most vulnerable.
My Writing Samples
- Chicago Reader: Activists say Illinois’s law that makes it illegal to expose others to HIV is racist and homophobic. Now they’re close to changing it.
- Chicago Reader: Bernina Mata’s attorneys say prosecutors used homophobic rhetoric to secure a death sentence in 1999. Now they’re asking the governor to set her free.
- The Appeal: Some states have banned a controversial homophobic legal defense, but other efforts, including at the federal level, are facing challenges.
- BuzzFeed News: With the coronavirus spreading and natural disasters intensifying, HIV-positive Puerto Ricans are having to decide to flee — or stay and fight for their lives.
Let's Work Together
