Tarek Anthony Journalism Portfolio

Tarek’s Summer at Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB)

As a general assignment reporter on the breaking news team, Tarek covered a little bit of everything — wildfires, fireworks, traffic, weather, and even some crime. By the end, it had become jokingly dubbed “the danger beat.”

He also ventured out with fellow intern Morgan Barnaby to visit the site of a “traffic diverter occupation” where people were protesting the removal of traffic diverters in parts of the city. Tarek followed this story to a contentious public meeting and came to learn that there was more to the story than traffic diverters but really underlying concerns over questionable government transparency or lack thereof.

For his final feature story, he was able to combine his interest and career aspirations in Middle East politics when he visited the Afghan Support Network in Beaverton — where he reported on the deep impacts they have faced from funding cuts and immigration crackdowns under the Trump administration.

Turns out tracking the source of funding cuts was far more difficult than he anticipated, and this story stretched and forced him to adapt in ways that were an amazing educational opportunity. Although he wasn’t able to get a final audio story out of it, he is proud of his work in navigating the many language, cultural and political barriers to produce a meaningful digital story on a much underrepresented community.

He was able to produce nearly 30 stories this summer for OPB and will forever be grateful for this experience and his summer in Portland.