My Work
William Skipworth has worked as a journalist since 2019, writing for hyper-local newspapers and world-famous publications alike. Here's a sampling of his work from every step of the way.
Forbes
In the second half of 2023, William completed a six-month contract with the world-renowned business publication Forbes. This had him writing stories on virtually every subject from business and politics to sports and entertainment. At Forbes, e produced an extremely high volume of content—typically about three stories per day, but some days as many as six—on quick deadline about a wide variety of subjects ranging from business and politics to sports and entertainment. Here are some examples of those stories.
Forbes | Oct. 9, 2023
Days after Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023, William reported on the fact that, per the White House, some of those that died were U.S. citizens. This story marks some of William's reporting on a war that has since engulfed the region, involving intense bloodshed and civilian casualties.
Forbes | July 23, 2023
Pharmaceutical behemoth Jonson & Johnson has long held the patent for lifesaving tuberculosis medications, a fact that kept the medicines too expensive for many countries around the world. However, after a relentless public pressure campaign and the work of a tireless nonprofit, the company decided to allow a generic version of the drug to be sold on certain in-need nations in July 2023.
Forbes | Nov. 24, 2023
Amidst an increasingly tense relationship between Canada and India, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of assassinating a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. The story ties into the fraught Khalistan movement in India and the West's complication relationship with the world's most populous country.
Forbes | Oct. 6, 2023
In October 2023, anonymous sources revealed that Donald Trump, at that point former U.S. president, had given up classified military secrets about American-made nuclear Submarines to an Australian billionaire that then reportedly gave those secrets to Australian officials engaged in negotions with the U.S. to purchase said submarines. William covered the entire saga, which intersected with Trump's criminal cases (which William also covered). This is one of several stories he wrote on the subject.
Forbes | Nov. 1, 2023
WeWork, once the darling of the startup world worth $47 billion, succombed to a tough real estate market and the economic challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. This lead to a bankrupcty and spiraling stock price in November 2023.
Forbes | July 12, 2023
William has long been interested in environmental coverage as climate change poses an increasingly existential threat to humanity. This story is one of many examples of his coverage of climate change.
The Times of Northwest Indiana
In late 2022, William joined the staff of The Times of Northwest Indiana, Indiana's second largest newspaper in the southeasy suburbs of Chicago. There he covered K-12 education as well as higher education. That included dozens of public school districts, private and charter schools, three universities and a community college system. He also worked breaking news shifts, often took his own photos and represented The Times as a guest on media partner Lake Shore Public Radio, 89.1 FM. This role had him covering in-person visits from First Lady of the U.S. Jill Biden, Gov. Eric Holcomb, U.S. Sen Todd Young and U.S. Undersecretary of Education James Kvall. It involved both fast breaking news to deeply reported feature stories
The Times of Northwest Indiana | March 6, 2023
First Lady Jill Biden visited Valparaiso, Indiana and William covered her visit. He also served as the White House press pool reporter during this visit.
The Times of Northwest Indiana | May 23, 2023
Higher education leaders across the U.S. are bracing for what has been dubbed "the enrollment cliff." Declining birth rates are set to present major financial, organizational and existential challenges. Willliam spoke with a number of university leaders from across Northwest Indiana about how they're being impacted by and preparing for this cliff.
The Times of Northwest Indiana | Feb. 21, 2023
Amid intense financial struggles, the leadership team at Valparaiso University, a liberal arts college in Northwest Indiana, decided to sell three precious pieces of artwork from its on campus museum, putting the university's president at odds with a large portion of the campus community.
The Times of Northwest Indiana | March 19, 2023
Public school superintendents, principals and school boards across the U.S. are facing steep declines in enrollment and the phenomenon is particularly strark in Northwest Indiana. These declines come with a number of complications. After diving through data from the Indiana Department of Education, the Census Bureau and other sources and interviewing a number of experts, local leaders and families, William put together an in-depth piece illuminating and explaining this major issue.
The Washington Missourian
William's first journalism job out of college was at The Washington Missourian, in Washington, Missouri. This role had him covering an insane amount of beats in Washington and the surrounding communities. He was the lead reporter on local and state government, crime, courts and public health/COVID-19. This meant he was the sole public health reporter during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Washington Missourian | Aug. 28, 2021
In one of his most touching pieces, William sat down with Mike Bursey in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic to hear about his story with Long Covid, a condition that has likely taken five to six years off his life and had immeasurable impacts of him and his family.
The Washington Missourian | April 18, 2022
In 2022, William attended a city meeting in New Haven, Missouri. During said meeting he met a man that was unable to attend the meeting because it was held in a location that was inaccessible to him as someone who uses a walker. William then covered his fight to hold city leaders accountable for this exclusion.
PolitiFact
Starting in fall 2020 and lasting through spring 2021, William completed an internship with the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, where we worked to fact-check Missouri politicians, particularly in the state's 2020 gubernatorial race and the lead up to the U.S. Senate race.
PolitiFact | Oct. 23, 2020
Gubernatorial candidate Nicole Galloway said that "Gov. Parson’s administration purged 100,000 kids from Medicaid rolls." William looked into that claim. Here's why it's mostly true.
PolitiFact | Oct. 23, 2020
Working on a team with fellow interns, William did a live fact-check of the sole debate in Missouir's 2020 gubernatorial race.
The Columbia Missourian
While still a student at the University of Missouri, William worked at The Columbia Missourian Columbia, Missouri's daily newspaper. There he served first as a reporter and later as an assistant city editor, overseeing K-12 and higher education reporters as well as general assignment reporters.
The Columbia Missourian | June 4, 2020
After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protests over police brutality and racial injustice swept the country, and William was there to cover it in Columbia. Here is some of his coverage of those protests.
The Columbia Missourian | Dec. 7, 2020
Boone County received $21.2 million in May through the federal CARES Act to be used to mitigate the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Eight months later and just 24 days from the deadline to allocate it, the Boone County Commission had allocated less than one-sixth of that money. After William's article on this was published and the community reacted to its revelations, the commision went into a frenzy, allocating millions of dollars in a matter of days.
The Columbia Missourian | Sept. 29, 2019
Two Iowa men stopped in Boone County during a sailing trip down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and across the Gulf of Mexico. William spent a day with them talking about their trip, checking out their boat and gear and even going for a short sail.