• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Friday, March 5, 2021
REPORTING MOROCCO REPORTING MOROCCO
REPORTING MOROCCO REPORTING MOROCCO
  • Home
  • Nation
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Environment
    • Education
  • Art & Culture
    • Food
    • Art
    • Music
    • Fashion
  • Religion
  • Health & Science
    • Public Health
  • Our Student Journalists
    • Spring 2020
      • Anna Mitchell
      • Antonia Knox
      • Aviva Rosenberg
      • Corrine Schmaedeke
      • Elijah McKee
      • Gari De Ramos
      • Harrison Daley
      • Jessica Blough
      • Kathryn Jefferson
      • Marlon Hyde
      • Nejra Kravic
      • Solaine Carter
    • In Other Media
  • Alumni
    • Fall 2019
      • Rachel Berets
      • Chloe Chaobal
      • Ella Feldman
      • Ryley Graham
      • Georgia Knoles
      • Patrick Linehan
      • Mimi Miyamoto
      • Stella Shi
      • Bella Staal
      • N’Kaela Webster
      • Ellie Zimmerman
    • Spring 2019
      • Alexis Broadnax
      • Amelia Keesler
      • Anton Delgado
      • Austin Corona
      • Catherine Brewer
      • Chris Dillon
      • Giulia Villanueva
      • Lauren Goldfarb
      • Lexi Reich
      • Mac Dressman
      • Malaya Nordyke
      • Margaret Dols
      • Mary Bernard
      • Maya London-Southern
      • Michelle Li
      • Shelby Kluver
      • Stephen Higgins
      • Viviana Prado-Núñez
    • Fall 2018
      • Alexandria Saurman
      • Alexis Miller
      • Brionne Frazier
      • Jabari Richardson
      • Jordyn Congelli
      • Kylie Wilder
      • Megan O’Herron
      • Sam Metivier
      • Zoe Buchli
    • Spring 2018
      • Alyssa Kann
      • Anna Bongardino
      • Carrie Boike
      • Emily Vega
      • Erika Riley
      • Hadley Stack
      • Joseph Held
      • Matthew McDermott
      • Molly Keisman
      • Najah Mateen
      • Olivia Lewis
      • Ryan Terhune
    • Fall 2017
      • Andrew Seger
      • Claire Franksen
      • Clara Neill
      • Jeanette Lam
      • Justin Cates
      • Katie Koontz
      • Lara Korte
      • Lars Brady
      • Lars Brady
      • Livvy Fore
      • Olivia Kohn
      • Rita Carmona
      • Sophie Nunnally
      • Sophie Pollock
    • Spring 2017
      • Allie Merola
      • Anisha Wilson
      • Connor Shannon
      • David Fuchs
      • Deborah Katsuva
      • Evan Popp
      • Katharine Milbradt
      • Kesley Cochran
      • Mary Chen
      • Mary Mathis
      • Max Jodoin
      • Micaela Harris
      • Perry DeMarche
      • Regan Reeck
      • Sophie Alexander
      • Tamara Matheson
      • Zakiyyah Maryam
    • Fall 2016
      • Celia Heudebourg
      • DeJah Ault
      • Dewborah Honore
      • Jessica Lartigue
      • Margaret Britton-Mehlisch
      • Phoebe Osterhout
      • Regan Reek
      • Shirley Chan
      • Sonia Mohammadzadah
      • Taylor Burris
    • Spring 2016
      • Amelia Palacios
      • Becca Dewosky
      • Cannon Sullivan
      • Danielle Douglas
      • Daria Etezadi
      • Elaina Zachos
      • Julia Cabrera
      • Kainoelani Lee
      • Kelsey Hanson
      • Mackenzie Ritter
      • Madeline Hughes
      • Molly Mulroy
      • Oly Zayac
      • Savin Mattozzi
      • Shiloh Frederick
      • Viviane Feldman
      • Wesley Lickus
    • Fall 2015
      • Allegra Thomas
      • Christopher Lowell
      • Darren Spirk
      • Hannah Steinkopf-Frank
      • Jennifer Kwon
      • Kayla Dwyer
      • Mitchell McCluskey
      • Nora Kipniss
      • Rob Dozier
      • Rob Dozier
      • Simneon Lancaster
      • Trey Strange
    • Spring 2015
      • Ben Bartenstein
      • Brennan Weiss
      • Emma Sikora Paulus
      • Evan Verploegh
      • Evin Billington
      • Hayden Crowell
      • Julia Barstow
      • Julia Levine
      • Kacie Graves
      • Kiannah Sepeda-Miller
      • La’akea Kaufman
      • Mackenzie Martin
      • Mary Byrne
      • Paris Alston
      • Samantha Weiss
      • Sofie Tapia
      • William Matsuda
    • 2014 Students
    • 2013 Students
Photo by WBUR

A reporter for Boston’s unheard voices: Spotlight on MOJ alum Paris Alston

December 6, 2019 By Ellie Zimmerman

Photo: WBUR

by Ellie Zimmerman

Paris Alston nearly studied abroad in Paris out of obligation to her first name. Instead, she was drawn to the SIT: Field Studies in Journalism and New Media program in Morocco because, journalist that she is, she had a sneaking feeling that whatever she had heard about Morocco was not the whole truth. “There was something about Morocco because it was a Middle Eastern Muslim country and the narrative we hear about countries in that region is not always the full scoop,” Alston said. “That was important to see for myself what was really going on there.” So in the spring semester of 2015, Alston, now 25, went to study in Morocco, a decision that would shape her career in public radio.  

 

That desire to hear all sides of the story drives Alston’s work as a producer for the daily news program Radio Boston at WBUR, Boston’s NPR station. “I’m always thinking about what is the real voice we can include in the conversation,” she said. 

 

A recent story she produced centered around a conflict between residents of Boston’s South End neighborhood and drug users who congregate around the nearby opioid addiction treatment clinics, giving the area the nickname “methadone mile.” Boston police’s controversial response to the tension was to perform a blitz “clean sweep” of the neighborhood and arrest people using drugs in public. 

 

The difficult part of her job, Alston said, was including “voices from the drug user community, from the neighborhood, even from law enforcement and city government” to make sure all sides of the story were present in her reporting. She said she “continuously wrestles” with the best way to balance opposing viewpoints in her coverage of contentious issues in her community.

 

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2016, she took some time to travel and then worked for WGBH, another public radio station in Boston, before she took her current position at WBUR. Although she studied broadcast journalism and global studies in college, Alston says that over the course of her young career she has branched out past video and now considers herself a multimedia journalist. 

 

Paris Alston, right, overlooks Rabat during her time as an MOJ student (photo from The Immortal Moroccan, Alston’s travel blog)

 

Life in the newsroom is a whirlwind, and it suits Alston just fine. Her former colleague at WGBH Phillip Martin said of Alston, “she’s constantly conceptualizing, that is to say throwing out story ideas. A lot of people won’t do it because they’re afraid of being embarrassed or someone saying it’s a dumb idea but she doesn’t have that fear. She’ll test it.” 

 

Alston admits that the breakneck pace of her job is sometimes frustrating. “There have been plenty of times when we have a whole show set and then it’s 2:00 and then all of a sudden there’s breaking news and the whole show is upended and we have to turn it around,” she said. 

 

Alston’s commitment to listening for the quieter voices began in Morocco. Alston wanted to see Morocco from all sides. She wanted to get to know the stories she produced on a personal level, so she talked to everyone she could. She relished the unexpected moments of insight into the lives of people she met, whether it was the medina shopkeepers griping about the economy, her host brother pondering religion, or her host mother helping her understand the various roles of women in Moroccan society. 

Alston poses with her friends and host family 2015 (The Immortal Moroccan)

Because of how personal her reporting sometimes gets, Alston takes the trust that her sources place in her very seriously. In an ideal world, she said, she would break down the barrier between subject and observer to collaboratively produce a story. “A lot of people feel distrust of the media and that comes up every day here at my job when people are like, ‘No, I spoke to a news person once, and what came out was different than what I told them, and I don’t want to do it again,’” Alston said. She feels a responsibility to tell people’s stories the way they would want them told.

 

Alston’s advice to young journalists breaking into the field today? “Look for stories and sources in unlikely places.” Seeking out those unheard, “real” voices has provided some of the most rewarding experiences of her career.

Featured Tagged With: alumni, radio

Reader Interactions

Alumni

SIT Journalism Alum to Present Honors Thesis on Press Censorship in Morocco

BY PERRY DEMARCHE RABAT, Morocco —  Danielle Douglas, an anthropology student at the University … Read Full Article

Alumni

Morocco Limits International Adoptions

A moratorium on adoptions to parents in other countries could be detrimental to the development of … Read Full Article

Alumni

Alumni Update: Allison Shirk

Currently I am studying journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and I just started working … Read Full Article

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW REPORTING MOROCCO

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Handprints in Oudayas

More Featured Photos

ALUMNI JOURNALISTS

Alumni Spotlight: Ben Bartenstein

SIT Students Visit Alum Perry DeMarche at Dar Si Hmad

Moroccan families mourn drowning of 45 who used risky migration route to Spain

Alumni Spotlight: Jeanette Lam

More Alumni Posts

The Program

Reporting Morocco is produced by U.S. university students on an SIT Study Abroad program called Morocco: Field Studies in Journalism and New Media. They are mentored by veteran journalists from The New York Times, The Associated Press, and Round Earth Media in a program applying technology and global consciousness to produce high-impact journalism on vital social issues.

Reporting Morocco strives to be a reliable resource for news and information about Morocco.

Learn More

SIT Logo

A pioneer in experiential, field-based study abroad, SIT (founded as the School for International Training) provides more than 60 semester and summer programs for undergraduate students in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as comparative programs in multiple locations.

Morocco: Field Studies in Journalism and New Media is a program of SIT Study Abroad.

  • The World Learning Inc. Family:
  • experiment.org
  • https://studyabroad.sit.edu
  • worldlearning.org

Footer

  • Academics
  • Admissions
  • Apply
  • Alumni
  • Alumni Connect
  • Give
  • Media Center
  • Request Info
  • SIT Stories
  • School for International Training

    1 Kipling Road • Brattleboro, VT 05302 • 802 257-7751 • 800 257-7751 (toll-free in the US)
    SIT is a private nonprofit institution of higher education.

  • Explore SIT Graduate Institute

    © Copyright World Learning, Inc.