I got my start flipping through the police blotter, reporting from late-night city council meetings and digging through public records for the benefit of local newspaper readers, but more recently I’ve been producing audio stories for public radio.
Here is some of my work.
Audio production.
At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I served in a professional/academic crossover role that allows me to produce audio stories for Illinois Public Media while still working with journalism students in the College of Media. My production work includes spot news, multimedia features and podcast episodes designed to shine a light on racial inequities in the criminal justice system.
Reporting.
My early reporting career took me to newspapers and website publications in Missouri, Florida and New York City. I was a city bureau chief covering the cops, courts, and council, a lead education reporter recognized multiple times nationally for work covering one of the nation’s largest school systems, and a First Amendment writer for the Freedom Forum.
I’ve written hundreds of news stories. Here are a few.
“Chris Evans was a key player in Florida Today’s bright, hard-charging staff, bringing a reporter’s eye and a writer’s touch to the beat of education. He not only shared news readers needed to know about this all-important subject, his storytelling made policies and people relevant and real, alive with detail, context and authority. Must-read journalism.”
Pam Platt
Writer/editor
Editorial Director and Public Editor, Louisville Courier-Journal, 2001-2015
Editorial Page Editor, Florida Today, 1993-2001
Chris Evans 