Wyatt Massey - Journalist Profile | Connect with top journalists

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Forks and spoons clink against plates in the restaurant with dim lights and high ceilings. People are packed around tables, the sound of their pleasant night out echoing through the dining area and into the bar. There, amid the mural of screens showing football and basketball games, poker matches and reality shows, one television displays horrifying news: 129 people dead in Paris. Conversations continue. Few people turn to acknowledge the deadliest attack in Europe since World War II. I put my fork down, unable to eat, as I consider whether what I am witnessing from those around me is blissful ignorance or mindful apathy. Then again, this response is nothing new. Twenty-four hours earlier, 43 people were killed in suicide bombings in Beirut. Less than two weeks before that, 224 people died when a bomb tore through a plane in Egypt. Each breaking news headline offers further reason for discouragement and the kinds of people around me are the people I need to reach most. As a journalist, I must find new ways to capture attention and show that these stories matter. Storytelling has always been a part of my life. Some of my earliest memories include listening to my grandpa tell tall tales in the barnyard of the rural Wisconsin farm where I was raised. I knew all 288 people in my town. Families shared meals on Sundays and packed the bleachers to cheer for our sports teams against big-city opponents. The bank gathered holiday “wish lists” from anyone in need and anonymous residents filled them. I was raised to help my neighbors because, in an instant, I could be in need. Marquette University’s pillar of service pushed me to recognize the dignity in every person. I came face-to-face with Milwaukee’s social outsiders – the impoverished and homeless communities. Hearing the stories of people who are homeless and marginalized fostered a passion for social justice. I first considered making a career of combining my two passions for writing and social justice after learning about James Foley, who travelled to conflict zones in the Middle East to document the toll of war. Several months later, during a trip to El Salvador, I learned how the country’s brutal civil war was fueled by misinformation. I travelled to rural Northeast India in March 2015 and met brave teachers who refuse to abandon their students despite the threats of militants fighting for regional autonomy by any means necessary. Both trips provided excellent opportunities to cut my teeth in international reporting. After sharing these stories with those around me, I knew I had uncovered my vocation. Something about holding a pen and notepad, with a camera slung around my neck, just felt right. My mission as a human rights journalist is to raise awareness about social injustice around the world. If I have learned anything from my international journeys, it is that there is a wealth of stories about pain and hope that need telling. Yet, suffering and violence do not occur solely on the other side of an ocean, but they happen at home, too. ​People do not want to hear bad news, which is why journalists must use innovative reporting styles to draw attention. I want to expand my mission of human rights journalism to a global scale. I've worked as a journalist covering crime for the Baltimore Sun, writing feature articles for CNN and reporting on inner city neighborhoods for Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.

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Spotlight PA

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to high-quality investigative and public-service journalism about the Pennsylvania state government and urgent statewide issues, including elections, voting, the governor, the legislature, rural communities, criminal justice, economic development, health, human services, and more. Spotlight PA was founded to address a crisis in journalism in Pennsylvania: the ongoing and rapid decline of corporate-owned legacy news outlets, which is greatly diminishing access to trusted, contextual, and factual reporting across the state. With support from foundations, individual members, and more, Spotlight PA is uncovering stories that would otherwise go untold and cutting through partisanship and misinformation to deliver trusted, reliable journalism at no cost to all in Pennsylvania. Since its inception in 2019, Spotlight PA has become a leading national model for independent, collaborative journalism that empowers residents and gets results. Its work has won numerous state and national awards and driven meaningful change and policy reforms in the state capital and beyond.