Unbias the News creates a space for journalists who experience structural barriers in the field. We are a remote, cross-border newsroom by Hostwriter working towards a more equitable and inclusive world of journalism.
Let’s face it: The current media system is not representative for the audience it serves. Newsrooms in the United States have remained more white and male than other work places, the largest migrant communities in Germany have no representation among editors-in-chief at leading news outlets and Indian media is an upper-caste fortress.
But diversity is not a moral question, it’s a question of quality! We aim to open up the field to emerging voices and local journalists who have not yet had the privilege to publish at big legacy outlets due to structural barriers or discrimination.
Know more about us here: https://unbiasthenews.org/about-us/
A few weeks ago I had the great privilege of attending the One World Media Awards Ceremony 2024 in stunning London. It has been an honor to be one of the three finalists in the Print Award category for our story ‘Widowed by Europe’s Borders” published by Unbias The News
Some time ago someone asked me if I believed my job as a journalist was impactful. Yes, being nominated for multiple awards is definitely proof of the impact of my reporting. However, I want to reflect on the true impact.
The true impact started 3 years ago when I was living in Lithuania and began to report on the migration crisis in Europe’s eastern borders.
At that time, the media in Lithuania predominantly used language that criminalized migration and migrants. In response, with my newsroom, Unbias The News, we decided to change the narrative and report on migration as a human story.
Now three years later, our reporting is being republished by the biggest outlet in Lithuania, and in many other outlets across the world. Also, the local community in Lithuania is at the forefront of advocating for and actively supporting the ongoing investigation into the pushback, disappearance and death of Samrin, Sanooja’s husband.
This if you ask me it’s human journalism superpower and truly impact.
I hope my reporting drives attention to the human cost of border policies. A death at the border is not just a number, but it extends across the Global South, where families are still waiting for news about their loved ones.
This article “Widowed by Europes borders” is part of a cross-border investigation with a team of 8 freelance journalists spanning six countries across Europe. Our investigation uncovered more than 1000 migrants graves buried without names along Europeans borders.
Congrats to all award winners and nominees #OWMAward24 Check out the amazing reporting being done across the Global South https://lnkd.in/evgsFy-g
Thank you Vivienne FrancisWill JamesonAyesha Aleem and the jury for this incredible recognition and the amazing evening celebrating quality journalism.
.
#media#journalism#migration#migrants#reporting#unbiasthenews
This spring I had the opportunity to contribute to the joint investigation led by Lighthouse Reports with the Financial TimesElPais News and Unbias the News, and to work with the amazing teams at Lighthouse Reports and Unbias The News.
This was special for me as a freelance journalist, a journalist with a foreign background. I've gained a better insight into the system I myself am stuck in, thanks to the dozens of experts I interviewed, the many migrants I spoke to and met for long, priceless hours. Here my report from Sweden.
We're so excited by the overwhelming response to our call for pitches for Unbias The News and our latest project: The Democracy Playbook. With over 300 pitches from 72 countries, including places we had never received pitches from before, the enthusiasm from the international journalism community has truly blown us away!
This incredible global response highlights the wide interest and urgency in discussing and preserving democracy. The Democracy Playbook is a global cross-border collaborative project highlighting the successful strategies movements and communities have employed to fight for democracy.
Stay tuned! Stories are coming this summer!
Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eGzcnuGq?
#ThankYou#UnbiasTheNews#DemocracyPlaybook#Journalism#Freelance#Journalists#GlobalCommunity#CrossBorderProject#DemocracyMattersHostwriter
Part 2 of the Lighthouse Reports investigation in collaboration with El Pais, Unbias The News and Financial Times ran last week, leading with people, not numbers.
A deep dive into the failure of Spain’s degree recognition program exposes why migrant doctors are blocked from working in their specialised fields despite Spain’s looming doctor shortage. https://lnkd.in/gVvmM8Ft
A character-driven explainer in Sweden describes a sweeping failure to integrate migrants with advanced degrees into the professional workforce. https://lnkd.in/ga6vtKeT
If Part 1 utilized startling visualizations and huge numbers to convey the sheer scale and scope of brain waste across Europe in the Financial Times explainer and the El Pais expose, Round 2 stories intentionally tell quieter, more nuanced stories. For Part 2, I’m sharing some reflections on centering the stories of impacted communities.
This was the starting point for our approach. “We are not doing nearly enough narratives — we are seeing data used as an end in itself, rather than a jumping-off point for strong journalism,” said Sarah Cohen. “I’m a judge [for data journalism awards,] and I can tell you we throw out 90% of the submissions because they are great data exercises, but not great journalism. We get to do both — but if we forget to do the part that we’re good at as journalists, then what’s the point?” https://lnkd.in/g3taHxPQ
The first thing we learned was we needed data-savvy journalists who are great storytellers for a data story to become strong journalism. With Beatriz Ramalho da Silva from the Lighthouse Team and Justin Yarga, a data journalist from Burkina Faso living in Sweden reporting for Unbias The News, we had a lead reporters passionate about both finding the nuances in the data and the characters who are most representative of the trends surfaced by the data.
Trust was essential for the characters featured in the story to share their experiences. Reporters went through the data findings with everyone in the story to help them both understand that they would not be exploited for a sensationalist headline and they are emblematic of the multiple barriers locking migrants out of good jobs. Our team believed that if the reader feels emotionally invested in the characters, they will make it through the complexities of the story.
Exhaustive storyboarding ensured a smooth narrative flow as we transitioned from the stories of victims of brain waste, to the data findings they represent, to the experts who explained the structural barriers behind the lived experiences and data. The storyboarding also served as a strategy to get buy-in from busy editors skeptical of their audience's appetite for a long-form piece on the migrant experience.
You’ve probably heard of brain drain, when countries lose highly educated citizens to emigration. But what happens to those people when they arrive in Europe? A joint investigation led by Lighthouse Reports Reports, an investigative newsroom, with Financial Times, El Pais and Unbias The News looks at the phenomenon called “brain waste”.
This cross-border investigation has brought together media houses across Europe to expose the scale at which college educated migrants are excluded from the European job market based on unprecedented access to a massive European labor market survey obtained by Lighthouse Reports
“Brain waste” describes the gap between employment of college-educated migrants and natives. In Europe overall, the picture isn’t pretty. Surprisingly, social welfare state Sweden has the 2nd worst gap overall.
Our reporter, Justin Yarga talked to dozens of experts and job-seekers in Sweden, to find out what barriers are keeping migrants from finding jobs that match their qualifications. He met migrants languishing in fields that have no relation to what they studied, or starting over from scratch.
-Solomon, a former journalist from Cameroon, now delivers newspapers in Gothenburg.
-Meiyuan, a graphic designer from China, can’t even land an interview.
-Dalia, with a master’s degree from Mexico, couldn’t find a job until she looked back home.
Sweden needs their talents, but the current system fails them.
Read our latest investigation into migrant brain waste here, and stay tuned for more deep dives into how Europe is transforming brain drain into brain waste.
https://lnkd.in/eEjXAd9W..
#migration#Sweden#labormarket#education#integration#Europe#Eurostat#BrainWaste#UnbiasTheNews#Journalism#migrants#Foreigners
"I moved to Sweden with more than ten years of experience. Should I just throw all this in the trash because I am in a new country?“ - This statement serves as a stark reminder that Migration often entails more than just a fresh start; it can involve a total obliteration of one's past, education, and professional path, leading into unfamiliar and sometimes hostile environments.
This is a significant narrative that I urge you to read today, brought to you by our editorial team Unbias The News and our collaborators and partners at Lighthouse Reports , Financial Times and ElPais News as well as Christina Lee, who ensured that every detail was meticulously attended to
This project was made possible thanks to our partners at Limelight FoundationWillem Lenders and Luminate Group !!! https://lnkd.in/d9HAHqRA
"I moved to Sweden with more than ten years of experience. Should I just throw all this in the trash because I am in a new country?”
Europe faces an aging population, worker shortages in critical fields, and competition on the global stage for attracting educated migrants. So why, across the continent, are college-educated migrants nearly twice as likely as college-educated natives to be unemployed?
Today we publish the first in a new series on "brain waste". Thanks to an innovative data investigation by Lighthouse Reports in collaboration with El Pais, Financial Times and Unbias The News, we can describe with numbers a phenomenon that many migrants have experienced personally: their work and educational experience being disregarded when they arrive in a new country.
In this piece, author Justin Yarga puts a human face on how migrants experience brain waste in Sweden, a social welfare state with a reputation for generous integration and training programs. Read on to discover how language barriers, discrimination, and one-size fits all training programs give Sweden the #2nd worst brain waste gap in Europe, and the #1 biggest gap between employment for Global South and Global North migrants.
A big thank you to Eva Constantaras, Justin-Casimir Braun, Halima Salat Barre, Beatriz Ramalho da Silva, Alice Corona and Athulya Pillai for their work on this piece and project, and thanks to Limelight Foundation for their support!
Out now: most people have heard of "brain drain." But what happens to educated migrants when they move to Europe? It turns out, many are unemployed, underemployed, or working in fields unrelated to their expertise, according to a new wide-reaching data investigation instigated by our friends at Lighthouse Reports.
This is a sad state of affairs for countries facing aged populations and worker shortages in critical fields like education and healthcare. But its also a pathetic waste of the time, energy and talent of newcomers who could contribute so much to making Europe a better place. For Unbias The News, journalist Justin Yarga spoke to many people struggling to have their education and experience recognized in Sweden, which turns out to have the 2nd worst employment gap between educated migrants and natives in all of Europe. Read the first in our limited series on brain waste, and make sure to check out the other articles in the series by El Pais and Financial Times.
"I moved to Sweden with more than ten years of experience. Should I just throw all this in the trash because I am in a new country?”
Europe faces an aging population, worker shortages in critical fields, and competition on the global stage for attracting educated migrants. So why, across the continent, are college-educated migrants nearly twice as likely as college-educated natives to be unemployed?
Today we publish the first in a new series on "brain waste". Thanks to an innovative data investigation by Lighthouse Reports in collaboration with El Pais, Financial Times and Unbias The News, we can describe with numbers a phenomenon that many migrants have experienced personally: their work and educational experience being disregarded when they arrive in a new country.
In this piece, author Justin Yarga puts a human face on how migrants experience brain waste in Sweden, a social welfare state with a reputation for generous integration and training programs. Read on to discover how language barriers, discrimination, and one-size fits all training programs give Sweden the #2nd worst brain waste gap in Europe, and the #1 biggest gap between employment for Global South and Global North migrants.
A big thank you to Eva Constantaras, Justin-Casimir Braun, Halima Salat Barre, Beatriz Ramalho da Silva, Alice Corona and Athulya Pillai for their work on this piece and project, and thanks to Limelight Foundation for their support!
My home country Sweden lands the first place of uncomfortable statistics in our just released joint investigation with Lighthouse Reports on skilled migrants with degrees on the labor market in the EEA* - Sweden has the absolute worst unemployment gap in Europe between Global South and Global North migrants, and is only behind Greece in the unemployment gap between educated natives and educated migrants.
“I’ve been to interviews for jobs that do not require Swedish. But at the end of the interviews, they asked me if I speak Swedish,”
“No matter your role, you should contribute to the team, talk to your colleagues, participate in the fika (the traditional coffee break in Sweden), and understand the whole. This is why we have such high language requirements compared to other countries,”
In my opinion, to stall the economy and waste peoples talent instead of sometimes being prepared to drink coffee and eat cinnamon buns in another language (most swedes speak great English) is ridiculous. Please do better! Even migrants who arrive with prestigious degrees find themselves filling jobs in sectors like social care, nursing, child care or teachers' aides. Skilled professionals are left to be cleaners, retail workers, food preparation assistants or truck and bus drivers.
Read the first article which focuses on Sweden today:
https://lnkd.in/e8gicEHs
*The only country who does not provide the data to analyze their brainwaste in EEA is GERMANY. Do better, too
"I moved to Sweden with more than ten years of experience. Should I just throw all this in the trash because I am in a new country?”
Europe faces an aging population, worker shortages in critical fields, and competition on the global stage for attracting educated migrants. So why, across the continent, are college-educated migrants nearly twice as likely as college-educated natives to be unemployed?
Today we publish the first in a new series on "brain waste". Thanks to an innovative data investigation by Lighthouse Reports in collaboration with El Pais, Financial Times and Unbias The News, we can describe with numbers a phenomenon that many migrants have experienced personally: their work and educational experience being disregarded when they arrive in a new country.
In this piece, author Justin Yarga puts a human face on how migrants experience brain waste in Sweden, a social welfare state with a reputation for generous integration and training programs. Read on to discover how language barriers, discrimination, and one-size fits all training programs give Sweden the #2nd worst brain waste gap in Europe, and the #1 biggest gap between employment for Global South and Global North migrants.
A big thank you to Eva Constantaras, Justin-Casimir Braun, Halima Salat Barre, Beatriz Ramalho da Silva, Alice Corona and Athulya Pillai for their work on this piece and project, and thanks to Limelight Foundation for their support!
"I moved to Sweden with more than ten years of experience. Should I just throw all this in the trash because I am in a new country?”
Europe faces an aging population, worker shortages in critical fields, and competition on the global stage for attracting educated migrants. So why, across the continent, are college-educated migrants nearly twice as likely as college-educated natives to be unemployed?
Today we publish the first in a new series on "brain waste". Thanks to an innovative data investigation by Lighthouse Reports in collaboration with El Pais, Financial Times and Unbias The News, we can describe with numbers a phenomenon that many migrants have experienced personally: their work and educational experience being disregarded when they arrive in a new country.
In this piece, author Justin Yarga puts a human face on how migrants experience brain waste in Sweden, a social welfare state with a reputation for generous integration and training programs. Read on to discover how language barriers, discrimination, and one-size fits all training programs give Sweden the #2nd worst brain waste gap in Europe, and the #1 biggest gap between employment for Global South and Global North migrants.
A big thank you to Eva Constantaras, Justin-Casimir Braun, Halima Salat Barre, Beatriz Ramalho da Silva, Alice Corona and Athulya Pillai for their work on this piece and project, and thanks to Limelight Foundation for their support!
