As a journalist with The Associated Press for more than 16 years and most recently with USA TODAY, Amanda Myers has become skilled in just about every aspect of digital journalism.
She spent many years as a text reporter covering breaking news and developing beats in immigration, cops and courts before deciding to master the video side of the business. She learned how to shoot and edit professional video in both news and entertainment and became an entertainment producer for several years, leading AP’s coverage at the Oscars and other major awards shows, as well as the biggest movie and television premieres in the business.
Along the way she has shot many photos to accompany her work, even landing A1 of The New York Times with an image of a dust storm rolling into Phoenix. She has also enjoyed learning to promote her work and that of her colleagues on social media, creating unique videos and posts, and has contributed to various radio and podcast products at both AP and USA TODAY.
Most recently at USA TODAY, Myers has been working to attract new readers on the company’s subscription team. Her vivid and clickable stories consistently top USA TODAY’s conversions and most-read subscriber stories. In just seven months on the job, her stories alone attracted 702 new subscribers. They include this one about an experienced hiker who disappeared in California’s Sierra Nevada, this one about the highest gas prices in the nation, and this one about the parents of an everyday hero searching for the people he helped save in the Las Vegas mass shooting before his own suicide.
A journalistic acrobat, Myers can dive deep on important stories, find others that aren’t being told and use new technology to tell others creatively, like the time she strapped a GoPro to her head and zipped down a glass slide 1,000 feet above downtown Los Angeles. From filming 360-degree video at the Oscars to writing profiles memorializing the victims of mass shootings and natural disasters, Myers loves creating distinctive and shareable content.
Myers also enjoys identifying cases of interest that aren’t being covered, particularly those that involve excessive use of police force, wrongful death and discrimination.
Her work led Myers to discover the case of a former longtime Ohio police captain convicted of killing his ex-wife in 1997 largely based on a bite mark found on the woman’s body.
Myers then spent four months working on a national investigative piece about bite mark evidence and its use in the criminal justice system, including interviewing forensic dentists who testify in court cases and had never before agreed to speak with reporters. The result was a story about how the use of bite mark evidence has led to 24 exonerations across the country, including men who had spent decades in prison and on death row.
Slate called the piece “tremendous” and wrote that “stories like these are good reminders that forensic science has made significant progress in recent years.”
More recently, her work on the Las Vegas massacre helped AP win a Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists. While Myers was in Vegas, her focus was on telling the story of the survivors. She’s particularly proud of a story she wrote after interviewing a Los Angeles woman who survived a critical gunshot wound to the stomach.
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Myers mostly grew up in Arizona after her parents fell in love with the desert. She graduated with honors from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in 2005. She has a minor in Spanish and is a fluent speaker.
Myers has run 15 half marathons and is planning to conquer her first full … one day. She just discovered a new passion for mountain treks and conquered Switzerland’s Haute Route in the summer of 2022 and has her sights on Scotland’s West Highland Way. When she’s not out adventuring, she is most certainly snuggling her dog Bradley and her two cats, Riggs and Roger.
Amanda Lee Myers 