WDET Accepting Multimedia Pitches For Community Stories
We’re looking for compelling narratives that provide deeper insight into the cultural fabric of metro Detroit. Submit your idea today.
Note: WDET is not currently accepting freelance pitches for the StoryMakers program.
When you hear the word community, what comes to mind?
For us, community isn’t just a convenient catch-all word, it’s on ongoing process that must be experienced and shared to be understood.
Community is 1,000 teenagers at a late-night Ramadan celebration in Dearborn Heights.
Community is 30 truck drivers bringing the ‘blessing of the semi-trucks’ tradition from Jalisco, Mexico to Southwest Detroit.
Community is a pair of Burundian immigrants opening the first restaurant of its kind in New Center.
These are the stories we need to tell, and we want you to tell them.
We’re looking for compelling narratives that provide deeper insight into the cultural fabric of metro Detroit. Our reporters and newsroom staff are incredibly talented, but there’s one thing they’ll never be able to do: tell a story from your perspective.
It is far too common that a publication will reject a pitch because the reporter is ‘too close to the story.’ That’s not us. The closer you are, the better.
We are ‘DET. Who are you?
Detroit StoryMakers is WDET’s initiative to bring independent media makers into WDET’s newsroom, especially those with a perspective that is underrepresented in our stories on-air and online.
We want StoryMakers to serve as an entry point for independent reporters and multimedia producers to reach a wider audience with their work. All work produced is paid consistent with industry rates for public radio stations and online media publishers.
So, what kind of stories are we looking for? See the full pitch proposal form here. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
We want pitches for stories that only you can tell, that better illustrate the depth and nuance of Detroit’s diverse communities. It is far too common that a publication will reject a pitch because the reporter is ‘too close to the story.’ That’s not us. The closer you are to the story, the better.
WDET’s 48,000-watt signal reaches 60 miles in every direction, with thousands of daily listeners tuning in to stay informed on what is happening in the region.
As a community media organization, we have a responsibility to publish stories that are representative of the people living in our broadcast area – stories that are by, from and about metro Detroit’s diverse communities, identities and ethnicities.
Send us your pitch and join us in showing Detroit what community really looks like.
