Emyle Watkins
Multimedia ReporterEmyle Watkins is an award-winning multimedia investigative journalist with experience in newspapers, TV, and radio. Emyle is currently BTPM’s Disability Reporter and hosts the station's weekly Disabilities Beat segment. Their work has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered, UpFirst and Morning Edition. Watkins has also appeared on the BBC World News and BBC 5Live during breaking news.
Outside of their work as a reporter, Emyle authored the Global Investigative Journalism Network’s Guide to Investigating Disability Issues and serves on Investigative Reporters and Editors' LGBTQ+ membership committee.
Emyle provides free and low-cost workshops to colleges, journalists, and organizations on improving coverage of people with disabilities and disability representation in newsrooms. Emyle's passion for disability reporting comes from their lived experience as a disabled and neurodivergent person who grew up with a stay-at-home disabled parent.
Buffalo-born and raised a short drive from the city, Emyle (pronounced like Emily, despite the spelling) got their bachelor's degrees in Multimedia Journalism and Digital Media Arts at Canisius University.
Emyle’s journalism career began at the early age of 16, when they became the primary sports reporter/photographer for their hometown newspaper, The Springville Journal. Since then, they have also freelanced or had work published in other newspapers, including The Buffalo News, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and The Public.
While Emyle started as a sports journalist, early on in college, they realized they wanted to pursue investigative journalism as a way to make a difference for communities and hold those in power accountable.
In college, Emyle quickly moved into an editorial position at The Canisius Griffin and served as the managing editor there, leading the investigative team, often looking into finances and covering student government/college administration. Emyle also redesigned the newspaper’s website and print product to be more accessible to readers with visual disabilities.
As part of Canisius’ Video Institute, Emyle co-produced and was the reporter for the documentary “NewBorn: Maternal Resources in New York State,” which won a Telly Award in 2020. While on a fellowship at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, they won a Pennsylvania Golden Quill by co-writing “There are Black people in the future,” a series of artist profiles.
Emyle interned at BTPM in 2020. Before joining BTPM, Emyle was an associate producer on the digital and investigative teams at WGRZ-TV (Channel 2). At WGRZ, Emyle helped develop stories on such topics as unsolved shootings in Buffalo and how over 900 graves were lost in a Cheektowaga cemetery.
Follow @EmyleWatkins.
Email Emyle at ewatkins@btpm.org
Desk (call only): 716-845-7000, ext 233
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The exhibit features Black dolls through history, features unique cultural and science-themed collections, and challenges the viewer to rethink representation in the arts and in play. -
Governor Kathy Hochul visited Buffalo City Hall on Thursday, February 5, to share more details of her proposals to tackle ghost guns in New York. -
Medicaid cuts fuel ECMC layoffs, NYS specialized disability schools seek more funding and autistic advocates raise concerns over new HHS autism committee appointees. -
The vote held February 3 decided who will fill the remainder of the term for the seat vacated by Sean Ryan upon his election as Buffalo mayor. Voters will go back to the polls in November to elect someone for a full term. -
The hospital will reduce its workforce by 3%, or 150 employees this year, mostly in non-clinical areas. All non-union employees will also take a one week furlough during 2026. -
Gagliardo has a unique bid for State Senate — one where despite being endorsed by Republicans, he told the party previously, "if you’re looking for somebody who’s all red, you got the wrong guy," -
This week on the Disabilities Beat, we dive into Governor Kathy Hochul's budget proposal for New York State, which has been met with mixed reactions from the disability community. -
While Democratic candidate Jeremy Zellner and Republican candidate Dan Gagliardo both have concerns with ICE, they have diverging views on if state and local police should cooperate with ICE. -
New Yorkers are less than 10 months out from choosing their next governor — which makes everything the governor does, and the ways her opponents respond, all that more important. -
On Saturday protesters gathered in Niagara Square to condemn violence from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. military abroad, and within the U.S. correctional system.
