The Rough Draft

Episode Summary Alain Stephens started his career in the military and later as a police officer in North Texas. But then he found himself in the world of journalism and realized this was the perfect avenue for his investigative skills.  In this episode Alain talks about his path to journalism, the challenges of being an investigative reporter in the current media landscape, and tells us about one of his investigations that led him to suing the Department of Justice.  Guest Bio Alain Stephens is a staff writer at The Trace [https://www.thetrace.org/author/alain-stephens/] covering developments in firearms technology and the ATF. His investigations into auto sears, toy guns, and ghost guns for The Trace have led to congressional action. A military veteran and gun owner, Alain worked at inewsource and Texas Standard [https://www.kut.org/people/alain-stephens], where his work led to important public safety, civil rights, and criminal justice reforms. Social Media Alain on X [https://x.com/alainstephens?lang=en]  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipedsel/] Alain on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alainstephens/?hl=en]  Listen to Alain’s podcast, The Gun Machine [https://www.thetrace.org/projects/gun-machine-podcast/] Rate and Subscribe Be sure to subscribe to The Rough Draft on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3HASKC3EFJbTmOBGLxH2jq?si=89f7390db68f4497], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rough-draft/id1730123012], or anywhere you get your podcasts in order to stay up to date with the latest episodes. Follow Rev and The Rough Draft on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/rev/?hl=en], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/rev-com/] and X [https://twitter.com/rev] The Rough Draft is produced by Rev [http://www.rev.com/], and releases a new episode every Tuesday & Thursday. Mentioned in this episode: Rev.com [https://the-rough-draft.captivate.fm/rev]

Episode Summary Investigative reporter Alain Stephens shares the process of reporting out one of his most impactful investigations: the discovery that 52,000 former police guns were sold to the public and later used in crimes.  This investigation resulted in multiple stories including an episode of Reveal [https://www.thetrace.org/2024/07/reveal-podcast-police-guns-crime-data/] and a collaboration with CBS News [https://www.cbsnews.com/police-selling-guns/].  Guest Bio Alain Stephens is a staff writer at The Trace [https://www.thetrace.org/author/alain-stephens/] covering developments in firearms technology and the ATF. His investigations into auto sears, toy guns, and ghost guns for The Trace have led to congressional action. A military veteran and gun owner, Alain worked at inewsource and Texas Standard [https://www.kut.org/people/alain-stephens], where his work led to important public safety, civil rights, and criminal justice reforms. Social Media Alain on X [https://x.com/alainstephens?lang=en]  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipedsel/] Alain on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alainstephens/?hl=en]  Listen to Alain’s podcast, The Gun Machine [https://www.thetrace.org/projects/gun-machine-podcast/] Rate and Subscribe Be sure to subscribe to The Rough Draft on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3HASKC3EFJbTmOBGLxH2jq?si=89f7390db68f4497], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rough-draft/id1730123012], or anywhere you get your podcasts in order to stay up to date with the latest episodes. Follow Rev and The Rough Draft on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/rev/?hl=en], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/rev-com/] and X [https://twitter.com/rev] The Rough Draft is produced by Rev [http://www.rev.com/], and releases a new episode every Tuesday & Thursday. Mentioned in this episode: Rev.com [https://the-rough-draft.captivate.fm/rev]

Episode Summary Investigative reporter Alain Stephens spends years trying to get the right data for a story. This kind of reporting takes patience, problem solving and time- something the 24-hour news cycle is not always willing to give.  Guest Bio Alain Stephens is a staff writer at The Trace [https://www.thetrace.org/author/alain-stephens/] covering developments in firearms technology and the ATF. His investigations into auto sears, toy guns, and ghost guns for The Trace have led to congressional action. A military veteran and gun owner, Alain worked at inewsource and Texas Standard [https://www.kut.org/people/alain-stephens], where his work led to important public safety, civil rights, and criminal justice reforms. Social Media Alain on X [https://x.com/alainstephens?lang=en]  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipedsel/] Alain on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alainstephens/?hl=en]  Listen to Alain’s podcast, The Gun Machine [https://www.thetrace.org/projects/gun-machine-podcast/] Rate and Subscribe Be sure to subscribe to The Rough Draft on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3HASKC3EFJbTmOBGLxH2jq?si=89f7390db68f4497], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rough-draft/id1730123012], or anywhere you get your podcasts in order to stay up to date with the latest episodes. Follow Rev and The Rough Draft on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/rev/?hl=en], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/rev-com/] and X [https://twitter.com/rev] The Rough Draft is produced by Rev [http://www.rev.com/], and releases a new episode every Tuesday & Thursday. Mentioned in this episode: Rev.com [https://the-rough-draft.captivate.fm/rev]

Episode Summary Investigative reporter Alain Stephens started his career in the military and later as a police officer in North Texas. But then he found himself in the world of journalism and realized this was the perfect avenue for his investigative skills. In this episode Alain talks about his path to journalism and why his background makes him a great reporter.  Guest Bio Alain Stephens is a staff writer at The Trace [https://www.thetrace.org/author/alain-stephens/] covering developments in firearms technology and the ATF. His investigations into auto sears, toy guns, and ghost guns for The Trace have led to congressional action. A military veteran and gun owner, Alain worked at inewsource and Texas Standard [https://www.kut.org/people/alain-stephens], where his work led to important public safety, civil rights, and criminal justice reforms. Social Media Alain on X [https://x.com/alainstephens?lang=en]  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipedsel/] Alain on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/alainstephens/?hl=en]  Listen to Alain’s podcast, The Gun Machine [https://www.thetrace.org/projects/gun-machine-podcast/] Rate and Subscribe Be sure to subscribe to The Rough Draft on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3HASKC3EFJbTmOBGLxH2jq?si=89f7390db68f4497], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rough-draft/id1730123012], or anywhere you get your podcasts in order to stay up to date with the latest episodes. Follow Rev and The Rough Draft on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/rev/?hl=en], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/rev-com/] and X [https://twitter.com/rev] The Rough Draft is produced by Rev [http://www.rev.com/], and releases a new episode every Tuesday & Thursday. Mentioned in this episode: Rev.com [https://the-rough-draft.captivate.fm/rev]

Episode Summary Daniel Parris is creator of the Stat Significant newsletter [https://www.statsignificant.com/], where each week he uses data analytics to answer pop culture questions. In this episode he talks about creating his newsletter, the tools he uses to compile data sets and write essays, and a behind the scenes look at how he created one of his most popular essays: ‘Why Do People Hate Nickelback So Much? A Statistical Analysis [https://www.statsignificant.com/p/why-do-people-hate-nickelback-so-1e9?utm_source=publication-search]’.  Guest Bio Daniel Parris is a California-based data scientist, journalist, and consultant who writes about the intersection of statistics and popular culture. He was one of DoorDash's first 150 employees and data science hires. Since leaving DoorDash, Daniel has been dedicating his time to strategy and analytics consulting, as well as data writing. His weekly newsletter Stat Significant has over 13,000 subscribers and features data-centric essays about movies, music, TV, and more. His work has been featured by The Financial Times, Semafor, 1440, and Morning Brew.  Social Media Read ‘Stat Significant’ here [https://www.statsignificant.com/] Daniel on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/d-parris/] Rate and Subscribe Be sure to subscribe to The Rough Draft on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3HASKC3EFJbTmOBGLxH2jq?si=89f7390db68f4497], Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rough-draft/id1730123012], or anywhere you get your podcasts in order to stay up to date with the latest episodes. Follow Rev and The Rough Draft on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/rev/?hl=en], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/rev-com/] and X [https://twitter.com/rev] The Rough Draft is produced by Rev [http://www.rev.com/], and releases a new episode every Tuesday & Thursday. Mentioned in this episode: Rev.com [https://the-rough-draft.captivate.fm/rev]