“Sorting Immigration Facts from Fiction: The Power of Local Reporting Amid National Politics”
September 10, 2024 | 5 p.m.
Reception following the lecture
Wallace House Gardens
620 Oxford Road, Ann Arbor
Welcome remarks by Valeria Bertacco,
Vice Provost for Engaged Learning, University of Michigan
In a deeply polarizing election year, immigration remains one of the most contentious, sensationalized issues in American politics. Beyond the partisan rallying cries influencing the presidential race, immigration plays out in individual communities where needs, resources and actions often transcend party lines and knee-jerk responses. How journalists cover immigration – and who their coverage ultimately serves – can shape how Americans understand and debate this issue for generations.
Join Mazin Sidahmed, 2021 Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow and co-founder of the non-profit newsroom Documented, for a discussion on how shifting our journalism focus from national coverage to local news outlets and from “reporting about” to “reporting for and with” immigrant communities can help us discern immigration fact from fiction and improve outcomes for everyone.
This is an in-person event and will not be live-streamed. However, a recording of the lecture will be available on our website following the event.
About the Speaker
Mazin Sidahmed is the co-founder and co-executive editor of Documented, an independent, non-profit newsroom dedicated to reporting with and for immigrant communities in New York City. He previously worked for the Guardian US in New York during the 2016 US elections, covering various issues, including surveillance and criminal justice, and the rise of hate crimes following the election. Sidahmed left the news desk to join the award-winning Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab, where he helped develop new mobile-specific story formats. He started his career writing for The Daily Star in Beirut, where he reported on the Syrian refugee crisis, weapons transfers to Lebanon and the plight of migrant domestic workers.
As a 2021 Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow, Sidahmed reported for Documented on the role of local police in federal immigration enforcement.
About the Graham Hovey Lecture
The annual Graham Hovey Lecture recognizes a Knight-Wallace journalist whose career exemplifies the benefits of a fellowship at the University of Michigan and whose ensuing work is at the forefront of our national conversations. The event is named for the late Graham Hovey, director of the fellowship program from 1980 to 1986 and a distinguished journalist for The New York Times.
Michigan Public is a co-sponsor of this event.
