Podcast | PBS Newshour’s Fred de Sam Lazaro on the power of under-told stories
The longtime correspondent has spent his career reporting on underrepresented communities around the world.
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Fred de Sam Lazaro answers questions from the crowd in Port Townsend. (Diane Urbani)
In a time of newsroom layoffs, hot takes, “fake news” and intense political polarization, it can be difficult to find in-depth journalism that takes the time to explore underrepresented communities or attempts to tackle the world's toughest questions. But Fred de Sam Lazaro is someone who's been doing just that for over three decades.
De Sam Lazaro is the executive director of the Under-Told Stories Project, a journalism and teaching endeavor that documents the consequences of poverty around the world and the work being done to address them. He is an award-winning journalist who's been a correspondent with the PBS Newshour since 1985. He's reported from over 70 countries on topics such as labor, sex trafficking, public health and immigration, and directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the acclaimed documentary series, Wide Angle.
For the latest episode of the Crosscut Talks Podcast, he talks with Crosscut editor-at-large Knute Berger as part of the Communiversity series hosted by Centrum, a Port Townsend-based nonprofit arts organization.
Editor's note: During the conversation, de Sam Lazaro plays two of his PBS Newshour stories. Watch the full videos here:
