CASEY MURRAY
Multimedia Journalist, Professionally Curious
WHAT MAKES ME A JOURNALIST?
To me, journalism is above all a public service. At its most lighthearted it connects communities, and at its most serious it exposes corruption and inequity. Both these services are vital to our democracy.
I'm a journalist because I care. I care about "big" stories as much as "small" stories. I care enough to put in the work, every time. I take the research and grind of journalism personally.
And, I'm not just concerned about my own role as a journalist in the day to day. I want to help push the news industry forward. As a journalist, I see it as my responsibility to not just tell the story, but to make sure a wider audience sees it.
ABOUT ME
I'm a data journalist in Sacramento, California, working in a position via Report for America.
Though I'm not from the area, I pride myself on my ability to adapt and get to know a community quickly. I immediately began working on complex stories about homelessness and health, while using my background in data to root my reporting.
One of the reasons I'm able to find impactful stories so quickly is because of my data knowledge. Going through Census data is one easy way to look for important trends in a community, such as child poverty, which was my first story at the Sacramento Observer.
Though of course, good reporting takes time. In all my work, I seek to empower those who share their stories with me. My stories focus on what's most important: the real impact on real humans.
