Sarah Scire

Why say storytelling rather than journalism? What’s the difference? I found myself asking PRX community manager Eric Dhan this when we talked about the public media organization’s Gateway Cities Audio Project. He answered by telling me what he’d heard again and again from residents of Gateway Cities — two dozen urban centers that once served as anchors for regional economies and a “gateway” to financial stability for new...

Journalists have covered a deadly pandemic, unnerving attacks on the U.S. Capitol, stark racial injustice, mass shootings, and (much) more in the past year. Many are doing their jobs while worrying about financial uncertainty in the industry and after months of socially distancing from colleagues, family, and friends. Some are starting to speak more openly about the toll. Stacy-Marie Ishmael, the editorial director of The Texas...

Last November, Vox’s editor-in-chief, Lauren Williams, and its founding editor, Ezra Klein, both announced they were leaving. Klein was off to The New York Times to be a podcast host and opinion columnist. Williams, though, was going another direction. She would build something brand new: a nonprofit newsroom called Capital B. The digital news site would “provide high-quality civic journalism tailored to Black communities across...

In recent years, opinion editors at McClatchy have looked for ways to increase the diversity of voices in their sections. Soliciting op-eds from the community and recruiting new columnists can help, but the process can feel, to some, like checking a box. Now, under a new national opinion editor, the newspaper chain will try to inject a range of perspectives earlier and more often in the editorial process. McClatchy is rolling out 12...

Google News Initiative has announced the 11 projects selected to receive a collective $3 million to fight Covid-19 vaccine misinformation. They include a hyperlocal digital news site distributing fact-checks to offline Mexicans using “perifoneo” loudspeakers, interactive radio dramas in Senegal and Nigeria, and a partnership with a trap music star in Uruguay. Google announced the open fund in mid-January. Google’s news and...

We all know the traditional social share buttons — email this, tweet that, etc. — but The Marshall Project has a new one at the top of their most recent article. Send this article to a loved one in prison via snail mail. The criminal justice-focused newsroom has partnered with Ameelio, a nonproft taking on the for-profit prison communication racket, to provide the service. The Marshall Project will cover the cost of...