Arizona Storytellers will talk about the news behind the news
Every day, our journalists use investigative reporting, innovative technology and multimedia platforms to tell your stories. What they learn in the process can be heartbreaking, empowering and hilarious.
And now you get the chance to hear why.
Join us for a night of storytelling about the news behind the news at Arizona Storytellers: Stories About Stories.
On July 17 at 7 p.m., five journalists from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com will take the stage of The Van Buren to celebrate the Storytellers Project’s seventh birthday with true stories about journalism. The night is hosted by Megan Finnerty, founder of the Storytellers Project, and Kaila White, a reporter for The Republic.
It is our privilege to reflect and serve the Valley every day. And on this night, you’ll get insights into how we do it.
❚ Ricardo Cano, a K-12 reporter, will tell for the first time about his experience covering the #RedforEd movement. Cano hopes to provide a behindthe-scenes perspective as to what led to the statewide walkouts and its political impact.
“I know that this was a very cataclysmic event here in the state and people still have questions,” he said. “I’m just really hoping to give them something to take away from that.”
❚ Lorraine Longhi, Scottsdale watchdog reporter, will tell how reporting on a mom and her son, who has autism, taught her about the role of empathy as a journalist.
“I really relied on this empathy to guide me in telling their story fairly and making sure that I wasn’t letting down this community who want to see their stories normalized,” she said.
Longhi is excited for the audience to connect more with the journalists who serve them every day.
“Journalists are people, too. We just tell the stories of the people in our communities,” she said, “and I think it’s a really great way to get a behind-thescenes, intimate look at the communities we live in.”
❚ Mary Jo Pitzl, investigative reporter, agrees. Although she is still deciding what story to tell, she looks forward to the opportunity to provide insight into the stories that communities care about most.
“A lot of our job with the newspaper is to try to connect people to their community, and these stories can do that,” she said.
❚ “The Wall,” a special report on President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, won The Arizona Republic and the USA TODAY NETWORK a 2018 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting.
To celebrate the Storytellers Project’s seventh anniversary, this show will include a discussion about our award-winning reporting with the prize itself present.
Improved accessibility
In an effort to be more accessible to guests who are deaf or have hearing loss, the Arizona Storytellers Project is providing live, open captioning at this show, sponsored by the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing.