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Documentarian and journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro gave Carleton’s convocation address, “Storytelling to Make the Foreign Less Foreign,” on Friday, April 24, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel.
He has served as a PBS NewsHour correspondent since 1985, reporting from over 70 different countries. He also served as a regular contributor and substitute anchor for PBS’s Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. He has directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the acclaimed documentary series, Wide Angle. De Sam Lazaro’s primary reporting focus has been on the myriad issues that underlie poverty and human suffering, which are historically underreported in the mainstream U.S. media.
De Sam Lazaro is the founder of the Under-Told Stories Project, which is dedicated to building a library of social innovation and entrepreneurship reports, “designed to use storytelling to enhance students’ understanding of the pressing global issues of our time.” The project, now located at the University of St. Thomas, holds the central mission of reporting on poverty and human suffering, which are critical topic areas that are not always covered by mainstream media. Simply put, the mission of the project is to “make the foreign less foreign.”
This is the basis for de Sam Lazaro’s convocation address, which he described as an analysis of news media solutions at the heart of bringing visibility to topics from human trafficking to menstrual hygiene product access:
With video excerpts from our PBS News Hour Agents for Change series, I’ll reflect on what seems to work and what doesn’t in the complex and often corrupt business of humanitarian aid, as well as the nuances and sensitivity that are essential for credible, respectful reporting. Storytelling is a powerful learning and teaching tool, and it is critical that we all understand how to use it amid so much polarizing misinformation that competes for our attention and indignation.”
De Sam Lazaro is the recipient of three honorary doctorates, a multitude of journalism awards, and media fellowships from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Michigan’s Knight Wallace program. He has served on the board of the College of St. Scholastica, his alma mater in Duluth, Minnesota; Minnpost, an online nonprofit Minnesota news service; the Asian American Journalists Association; and the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota. De Sam Lazaro was born in Bangalore, India and lives in St. Paul.
This convocation was sponsored by Carleton’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) to celebrate the power and ingenuity of individuals who seek to make a difference in the world. It is part of a daylong celebration to honor the 40th anniversary of Acting in the Community Together (ACT), the precursor to the CCCE.
Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations
