How To Find Under-Reported Stories | Journalism Skillbuilder

my name is marina Walker Guevara and I am NOT a bellboy we are part of the de toriel team at the Pulitzer Center which means that we help journalists and news outlets tell stories that aren't getting enough attention in the media we call this underreported stories these are stories that don't only look at what is happening in the world but also about why things are happening they look at the roots of the big issues our world faces to examine the root causes the human impacts and the possible solutions today we're going to explore a few

ways that you can find underreported stories that interest you it always starts with getting curious [Music] one way to start finding underreported stories is to think critically about what we see in the media when you look at the front page of a newspaper but at the homepage of a news site or when you watch a news show in television you can ask yourself what is happening and why who is affected and why who might be affected and is not represented in the stories and finally what do these issues look like in my community let's look

at how a few journalists use questions like this to find underreported stories about the corona virus pandemic public health researchers have warned for decades of the dangers of a global pandemic now as covered 19 spreads across the globe Pulitzer Center and its grantees are asking why were these warnings ignored they are also asking who is getting access to necessary medical equipment and medical treatment and who isn't and what is the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable including communities of color and documented immigrants and students they ask why these communities are the most impacted

and what can be done to her another way that you can identify underreported stories is by talking to people about the issues that matter to them choose someone in your life or in your community and ask them questions like what issues are important to you and why or what issues are impacting the people you care about and how let's look at an example daniela Saltzman traveled to Canada in 2014 to investigate why the rate of HIV infections was rising specifically amongst indigenous communities in Canada after listening really closely to dozens of people speak about the

issues that matter to them she learned that many indigenous Canadians were continuing to navigate the lasting impact of Canada's Indian Residential schools that legacy helped explain the root causes of HIV crisis and many other crises in these particular communities the work that I've done so far largely focuses on the school system in Canada which ran from 1870 until 1996 and it was a network of boarding schools where young Native children would be forcibly taken from their homes and sent sometimes hundreds of miles away where they would be told that they could not speak their own

languages they could not practice their culture and they had to assimilate into Western and Canadian culture Daniella collaborated with survivors of this system to create double exposure portraits that document their experiences by continuing to ask how this happened and why she has gone on to investigate the lasting impacts of similar Indian Residential school systems in the United States Australia and New Zealand often your immediate surroundings can also be inspiration for underreported stories where are you now what do you see who do you see now you can ask yourself what doesn't make sense to you what

do you see that seems unfair or confusing and what do you want to know more about well photojournalism teen was living in Beijing a city of more than 21 million people she became curious about the city's migrant workers an estimated 1 million people these chefs karaoke hostesses security guards domestic workers are the backbone of the jeans service industry yet due to the high cost of living in Beijing many of these migrants had to live in basements beneath the city's skyscrapers and streets because of this they were unkindly dubbed the rat tribe by Chinese media I've

explained to them that because they've been dug the rat tribe I want to make watches of them to show people how normal they are how they look like any other young hip Chinese person who lives above God the only difference is that they can't afford to live above Garnon and so for the time being they live below ground how can you find underreported stories that are important to you try exploring the news talking to the people around you about the issues that matter to them and getting curious about the places and the people around you

ask yourself what issues are in getting attention who's affected by those issues how why and is there anybody trying to help dive into your curiosity notice what underreported stories interest you and as you do you'll start becoming more aware of the deeper issues facing our society and the potential solution you will become smarter more empathic citizen who is better able to make informed decisions and important contributions to society you