How to report on an underserved community and their sensitive information
This is the 3rd in a series of articles about reporting skills by Knight Center students who attended the 2025 Society of Environmental Journalists conference.
By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira

Isabella Figueroa Nogueira
With the new Trump administration, reporting on Latinx communities has been more difficult than ever to keep undocumented people and their information safe.
SEnvironmental journalists discussed that situation at the 2025 Society of Environmental conference in Arizona.
The panel was called “When There Is No Data Available: How to Report Environmental Stories on Latinx Communities in a Hostile Administration?”
The panelists talked about the many ways reporters can collect the data needed to report while protecting marginalized communities.
Monica Samayoa, a climate reporter at Oregon Public Broadcasting, talked about walking in neighborhoods and knocking on doors with someone the community knows and trusts, like a lawmaker or a community leader. Talking to people face-to-face can make them feel comfortable sharing their sensitive information.

MSU SEJ LATINEX PANEL
Door-to-door knocking can be effective in some places, but not in Puerto Rico, according to Luis J. Méndez González, a climate change investigative reporter at Centro de Periodismo Investigativo.
People will kick you out of their homes if you knock on their door and try to get information out of them, he said.
“I call them. I’ll talk to them about the issue and, if they feel comfortable, then I will go to their homes or maybe I will meet them in a church or in a business,” said Méndez González. Continue reading