Obscured Podcast Premieres: Covering Stories That Are Ignored

 Let's start by discussing how important a podcast like Obscured is to journalism and its role as a safeguard in our society.

 When print went into its epic collapse, that demise also killed off a lot of the local investigative stories that escaped national attention, but were critical weapons for maintaining a civil society. 

Combine that lack of local journalistic due diligence with the inability of national media outlets to escape the 24-hour news cycle, and what we have is a news coverage gap as wide as the Grand Canyon at its widest point. 

Even news events that attract coverage only do so for a day, a few days, or rarely, a week. Anyone know what horrors still go on in Venezuela? How about the crisis in child care affordability? When is the last time you read about the mountain of health care debt that saddles American households? How about housing discrimination against minorities?

Well, Kouvenda Media is trying to do something about that gap. Kouvenda Media is an independent women-led podcast production house based in Philadelphia, PA, covering underreported stories throughout the state and beyond.

The award-winning women-led production house, has launched their first limited series, From Words to Weapons on their podcast Obscured. The series centers on law enforcement trauma survivors and related challenges, solutions, hope and resilience. The series began on October 25th, and revisited the story of Jimmy Warren, who was the subject of a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case that ruled a Black man who runs from police shouldn't necessarily be considered suspicious.

Despite the fact that Jimmy’s case made headlines, no journalist has ever spoken directly with Jimmy before now.

From Words to Weapons will feature stories from law professor Joanna Schwartz on how the police became untouchable, Chester Holman III's exoneration and challenges facing exonerees, Hector Rivera's experience and his advocacy for alternative trauma support, and Maija Anderson's research on medical treatment post-law enforcement encounters and more.

As seasoned journalists, Obscured is Stephanie Marudas and Emily Previti’s response to seeing too many issues and stories remain unknown to the public due to underreporting. Obscured
focuses on critical issues that are often missed in the daily news cycle. It blends in-depth journalism with enlightening conversations featuring perspectives from law enforcement, trauma survivors, formerly incarcerated individuals, healthcare providers, attorneys, policy
professionals, advocates, journalists and researchers about the path forward and navigating obstacles along the way.

“Throughout both of our careers, we’ve gravitated towards what we call obscured stories. The ones that don’t necessarily get daily news coverage and are on the fringe, maybe sometimes overlooked,” said Stephanie Marudas, founder of Kouvenda Media & co-creator of Obscured.

“With ongoing cuts and consolidation within journalism, we’ve seen an increasing trend of underreporting on critical issues that don’t get much attention because they’re complex, overshadowed and happen largely out of the public eye,” added Emily Previti, co-creator and
executive editor of Obscured.

I listened to the Jimmy Warren episode the other day, and it's an ear worthy experience. First, Emily Previti as host is relentless, righteously indignant, and a champion of a carefully executed journalistic investigation.

Previti is understandably concerned and upset about the lack of transparency and media attention to Jimmy Warren's important legal case. She's just so much better than many of the true-crime hosts who huff and puff about injustice. Previti blows the house down with her incessant demand to know why this case isn't covered by the media.

As a senior reporter for Keystone Crossroads, Emily Previti spotlighted statewide issues ranging from government dysfunction to environmental justice. She also led award-winning coverage on
beats including Pennsylvania’s public defender system, voting rights, election administration and corruption during her career at NPR affiliate WITF and media outlets in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Illinois.

Prior to founding Kouvenda Media, Stephanie Marudas, honed her reporting skills at WYPR in Baltimore and WHYY in Philadelphia. At WHYY, she tackled subjects like education, healthcare, and immigration, while also working on the "Impact of War" series, a collaboration with NPR and went on to become a producer at the station in various roles. As executive producer of the podcast Grapple, she collaborated with Obscured co-creator Emily Previti during their time working together for Keystone Crossroads.

The first episode of From Words to Weapons launched on October 25th and new episodes will be released weekly through to January. 

Check out Obscured and add it to your podcast feed and regular rotation. I promise after listening to an episode, you'll say, "Hey, how come I never heard of this before now?"