{"id":16663,"date":"2026-01-23T14:09:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=16663"},"modified":"2026-01-23T14:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:14:47","slug":"holding-up-our-phones-as-a-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2026\/01\/23\/holding-up-our-phones-as-a-mirror\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding up our phones as a mirror"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Dear Storyboard community: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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To the citizens and journalists on the ground in Minnesota and around the country, who are putting themselves in harm\u2019s way to document what is happening in real time: Thank you for your tireless work. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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The nation is following along via the Minnesota Star-Tribune<\/a>, Minnesota Public Radio<\/a>, the Minnesota Reformer<\/a>, and many other independent outlets and community members reporting on the escalating chaos from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildup in Minneapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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As Kelly McBride writes at Poynter, \u201cThis moment will be defined by what we choose to record.\u201d<\/a> Supporting local journalism \u2014 and the people creating that record \u2014 is more important than ever. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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***<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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This week, we have a new Nieman Storyboard podcast conversation<\/a> with Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas, two journalists who have made local and regional storytelling part of their mission, as they\u2019ve spent more than a decade investigating stories in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Sottile and Haas are the reporting team behind the investigative podcast \u201cHush,\u201d<\/a> which recently wrapped its second and final season focusing on the unsolved case of 18-year-old Sarah Zuber, who was found dead just 400 feet from her home in rural Oregon in 2019. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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They first started working together in 2019, on the Oregon Public Broadcasting\/Longreads podcast \u201cBundyville<\/a>\u201d (which is how I met them). Through their podcasts, Sottile and Haas do deep investigative work on a single case, but they also look closely at how one event affects an entire community; Sottile says place is very much a central character in any story they tell. And with Season Two of \u201cHush,\u201d they take a step back to examine the \u201ctrue crime\u201d genre in journalism, and how to report on a tragedy with care and sensitivity. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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This week, they\u2019ve announced that they\u2019re starting an independent publication called The Western Edge. (For updates, you can follow Sottile<\/a> and Haas<\/a> on Bluesky or on their individual<\/a> Substacks<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Our conversation ends with Sottile\u2019s straightforward advice for journalists on how to cover difficult stories: “Sometimes the strongest way to be a journalist is to just be a freaking human.”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas on deconstructing \u2018true crime\u2019 in podcasting and journalism<\/a><\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\"Leah<\/a>
Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> \n
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\u201cI think if you’re going to get into a crime and something that is tragic and has happened to a person, you should at least think a little bit about: what is the benefit of this? I think Justin St. Germain [an Oregon State University professor who teaches courses on nonfiction and true crime] puts it really well in our show and he says, \u2018what’s the benefit of this beyond your own careers?\u2019 And I think if you’re being ethical, you should be asking yourself that question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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[ Read the story<\/a> ]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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