Until January 31, 2023, CatchLight and Report for America are accepting applications for 2023 fellowship positions on the CatchLight Local California Visual Desk, a collaborative initiative to address the decline of local visual journalism in the state and create a model for the nation.
The stories below are a few of many examples of the visual reporting CatchLight Local Fellows are delivering to California readers every day. From chronicling historic and emerging social movements to laying the groundwork for visual reporting of the highest quality, CatchLight Local is creating an ecosystem for news that communities will trust and utilize.
There’s much more to visual journalism than knowing how to operate a camera. Through a delicate assignment about a group of high school students grieving the suicide of a classmate, Ximena Natera, CatchLight Local Fellow at Berkeleyside, and Ally Markovich, reporter at Berkeleyside, explored what effective collaboration can look like for the visual newsroom.
Jeremy Hay, director of audience and memberships for CatchLight Local, shares perspectives from the reporting duo and their editor-in-chief, Pamela Turntine, in this CatchLight Q&A.
The warehouses of the Inland Empire are shipping hives that blanket the surrounding environment with noxious emissions. These massive facilities butt against homes and schools, most often in communities of color.
Visual reporting by Aryana Noroozi, CatchLight Local Fellow at Black Voice News, is casting light on the entwined crises of corporate dominance, racial inequality, and environmental destruction. Stephanie Williams, executive editor of Black Voice News, believes telling stories of resistance will help the community find more allies in their cause.
In the heat of the summer, Larry Valenzuela, CatchLight Local Fellow at CalMatters, visually documented segments of a 24-day pilgrimage of the United Farm Workers from the Central Valley to Sacramento.
The group was marching in support of a bill to expand California farm workers’ right to unionize without fear of intimidation or retaliation. Visual reporting by Valenzuela brought readers along the historic march that led to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stunning change of position on the bill.