Dear Reader,
The pandemic changed almost everything. It didn’t distance PublicSource from its core mission: Providing stories for a better Pittsburgh, even when that involves stepping off of today’s news treadmill.
Here’s an example: Late in May, I got word of a large landlord’s threat to evict a transgender couple from a South Hills apartment complex. Coming during a moratorium on evictions, and given the notable vulnerability of trans people to homelessness, we could have dashed to publish a superficial story.
Reporter Nicole Brambila, photographer Ryan Loew, editors Halle Stockton and Jeffrey Benzing, and I saw another option. The experiences of Devyn Kahler-Harms and his fiance during their year in Pittsburgh revealed much more about our region than we could capture in a quick story built around a few phone calls and some court paperwork.
So over one month, I met four times with Devyn, socially distanced, at a picnic table. Ryan captured Devyn in photos. Nicole worked sources in the transgender community, and found national-level data. We produced a package that moved some readers to reach out and offer help to the couple.
I can tell you from experience that time-intensive journalism is less and less valued by some local news providers. In the race to address an unprecedented confluence of threats to our health, our civil society and our democracy, it’s tempting to seek retweets today, rather than aim for deeper insights weeks or months from now.
That’s why I’ve been grateful, during this wild year, to be part of Pittsburgh’s nonprofit provider of deeper coverage. Devyn’s story might have emerged without PublicSource. But it’s unlikely that any other local outlet would have been there as Devyn loaded kittens into the car trunk on move-out day.
I hope you’ll help us to continue to pursue a mission that is only becoming more crucial. Gifts are matched until Dec. 31, making now a great time to show that PublicSource’s reporting matters to you. Please consider supporting us with a recurring gift of 5, or a one-time gift of any amount, today.
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