It has been a year since the 2019 News Engagement Day and I am still at the Iowa State Daily, which is not really a shocker for those who know me.

While I am still here, my role has changed, but my dedication to representation and justice for marginalized communities still stands.

Last year I was right in the trenches, writing anywhere from three to six stories a week and leading my reporters from one story to the next. I was there and I saw, I heard and I witnessed.

From big improvements in representation for marginalized communities to just days later other improvements being ripped away, we saw it all last year. Every community we covered saw it, but my team was there to cover it.

This included raising awareness for the climbing veteran suicide rate and creating a list of all known murders of Black transgender women in 2019, both important and heartbreaking, yet not being talked about.

The important part I want to get out there is that good journalism on marginalized communities is not “about” them, it is not dissecting every asset of their community. It is using our position as a news organization, my position as a cisgender white man, to lift their voices and raise awareness to issues affecting their communities.

It is the duty of every reporter, every editor and every news organization across the country to not only focus on the communities with privilege and “normal” stories, it is their job to get out there and build connections and tell the stories people don’t always want to hear. It is their job to make people hear their voices.

Though I am no longer writing hard news stories, I still feel the same way. I am now the managing editor of content for the Daily, meaning I mainly work behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean the fight is over and I put the hard work behind me.

I’m still here, bringing stories to the table for different desks, I’m still here connecting reporters with my contacts in the Ames and Iowa State communities, I’m still here and until equity is reached I will always be there for the communities who need me to show their stories.

News Engagement Day is about learning news reporting principles and I think this column highlights mine. So please, read a piece of journalism today. Listen to the voice of someone different than you, go outside of your comfort zone (and your normal news source), hear the pain but also the joy, see the hurt but also the life. See them and stop ignoring the injustices.