
Emyle Watkins
Multimedia ReporterEmyle Watkins is an award-winning multimedia investigative journalist with experience in newspapers, TV and radio. Emyle is currently WBFO’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 bachelors 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 WBFO in 2020. Before joining WBFO, 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@WBFO.org
Desk (call only): 716-845-7000, ext 233
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The Refugee Partnership of Western New York launched a Crisis Response Fund, which will fundraise $1.5 million to support 731 local refugees impacted by the State Department's stop work order for refugee resettlement organizations.
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This week on the Disabilities Beat, WBFO’s Emyle Watkins speaks with Stephanie Orlando, from Western New York Independent Living, about what is at stake for disability programs if funding is paused — or ends.
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This week President Donald Trump attempted to institute a freeze on federal spending that would have wide ranging impacts for the disability community.
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On Tuesday, Congressman Nick Langworthy expressed his support for the Red Light Act, which would withhold highway safety funding until states like New York end their Green Light Laws. New York's Green Light Law allows people without social security numbers to get driver licenses, and prevents DMV data from being shared broadly with immigration enforcement.
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New York State has begun the process of moving hundreds of thousands of consumers and their personal care aides from the hundreds of organizations that currently run the consumer directed personal assistance program, or CDPAP, to only one company, PPL, by April 1st. On today's episode, we hear from consumers who are concerned with the speed and transparency of the transition.
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Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming and Chautauqua counties could all see southwest winds from 30 to 40 miles per hour with gusts up to 60 miles per hour. The most intense wind gusts are expected in the Niagara Frontier.
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WBFO's Disability Reporter Emyle Watkins analyzes a portion of Governor Kathy Hochul's State of the State speech that caught many in the disability and mental health communities off-guard: the Governor is now supporting expanding involuntary commitment to people deemed unable to provide or unwilling to accept help with basic needs. Watkins spoke to an expert on institutionalization about the historical context of involuntary commitment, a local peer advocate about why people with serious mental health conditions are worried, and legislators who are for and against this proposal.
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Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon has called a State of Emergency for the city, while the Town of Tonawanda says it has scaled back salting roads to only essential spots due to a rock-salt shortage.
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Extremely cold temperatures and lake effect snow could impact your commute or ability to be outside for extended periods for the first half of this week.
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is now requiring the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company to submit a plan to install temporary pollution control measures at their Niagara Falls chemical plant by the end of the month, and install permanent pollution control measures by October 2026.