Tasneem Raja

About

I'm the editor-in-chief of The Oaklandside, a local newsroom serving Oakland’s information needs with an equitable, service-oriented approach. We’re a small but mighty team of journalists working for Oakland. We amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms. I'm also a co-founder of Cityside Journalism Initiative, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization committed to building community. Through Oaklandside and Berkeleyside, we offer a model for sustainable local journalism that fosters civic engagement, enriches people’s lives, and contributes to a healthy democracy. I was the Executive Editor and co-founder of The Tyler Loop, a nationally recognized nonprofit local news startup in East Texas, and a former senior editor at NPR and Mother Jones.At NPR, I reported and edited stories about race, identity, and culture as a senior editor of the Code Switch team. I also led the development and launch of the popular Code Switch podcast. On one of my favorite episodes, I talked about a funny pet peeve — people mispronouncing my name — with a couple of my favorite comics. On another episode, I dissect the enduring American fascination with the Indian accent with two great Mumbai comics. You can read a bit more about my work at NPR over at Poynter.Earlier in my journalism career, I specialized in data-driven and interactive journalism, leading a scrappy team of designers, coders, and reporters at Mother Jones. We built the first-ever database of mass shootings in America and a suite of open-source storytelling tools for newsrooms everywhere, among many other things.As a national magazine writer, I'm interested in everything. I've gone deep on a fight over Confederate names, how employers can stop gendered interruptions, how remote work can save the world, how computers think, Starbucks names, the Craigslist for guns, Silicon Valley's brogrammers, Indian accents, fringe religions, 9,000-year old bones, how not to train your dog, and lots more. I've talked about my reporting on national and local radio programs, including NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition, and on panels at SXSW, Google, and more.Called "one of the smartest people on Twitter" by Fast Company, I've spoken at leading web and media conferences (Newsfoo, Online News Association, National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting, Spark Camp, MediaRise) on diversity and inclusion, journalism in the digital age, gender in the workplace, and other issues I care about deeply.