Award-winning Bay Area journalist DeBolt will report on City Hall and policing, while Fermoso joins the newsroom on a Knight-Wallace Fellowship to examine the reasons for Oakland’s unsafe streets.
Category: How We Work
Watch: What does equitable journalism look like?
The Oaklandside’s editor-in-chief spoke to two journalism industry leaders about how media can better serve the communities they’re reporting for.
How we reported on the life of Mario Gonzalez
Striving to report responsibly on the lives of people impacted by violence requires great care. We wanted to share more on our approach to this story.
Introducing The Oaklandside’s inaugural cohort of community advisors
The seven members, one for each Oakland district, will be reading our stories and giving us feedback to ensure we stay true to our founding values.
From text messages to flyers, how we’ve been helping Oaklanders get vaccinated
In February, The Oaklandside launched a vaccine information equity campaign. Here’s what we’ve done so far.
How is The Oaklandside living up to our values? Introducing Mission Metrics, our pilot program to keep learning from community
With support from the San Francisco Foundation, we’re working with paid community advisors to help us track and grow the impact of our journalism.
The Oaklandside wins award for excellence in community journalism
The Society of Professional Journalism in Northern California bestows this award on The Oaklandside within a year of our launch.
Excellent Oakland journalism you may have missed in 2020
We’re spotlighting some of the year’s best reporting in and about Oakland, from The Oaklandside and well beyond.
Homeless? Unhoused? Unsheltered? Word choice matters when reporting on Oaklanders who don’t have permanent housing
As a newsroom, we’re committed to working with community members to define their experiences. Here’s what we learned.
How we’re covering the 2020 election in Oakland
Our ‘citizen’s agenda’ approach: start by asking Oakland residents about what’s working, and what’s not, in their neighborhoods and schools. Go from there.
Work with us to ‘Amplify Oakland’ through first-person storytelling
In the coming months, we’ll be sharing the mic with more Oaklanders who have important stories about life in our city. This is how we’re planning to do it, and why.
Want to contribute to The Oaklandside as a freelancer?
We want to make it easy to understand our process. Here’s what we’re looking for, and how we’ll support you.
How El Tímpano passes the mic to Spanish-speaking and Indigenous immigrant communities
Journalist Madeleine Bair on Oakland’s media deserts and reaching communities where they’re at.
Reporting on Oakland schools through an equity lens
Public education is facing a turning point in Oakland and across the country.
Our founding values
News organizations don’t always tell you—or know—what drives their decisions. We wanted to share.
How we’ll report on housing and homelessness
Every aspect of daily life in Oakland intersects with housing, in ways visible and unseen.
Built on a foundation of listening
Hundreds of Oaklanders told us what they want from local journalism. Here’s what we learned.
Immigrant small businesses: Sharing the stories behind the storefronts
Hearing my family’s immigration stories pushed me to become a journalist.
The story of our logo
Oakland designer Mike Nicholls on how community feedback shaped his vision.
Covering arts and community in my hometown
I’m here to report on the “shakers and makers” that make the Town thrive.