Understated was launched in October 2024 by me, Sarah Alvarez. I've been the James B. Steele Chair of Journalism Innovation at Temple University in Philadelphia since fall of 2025. I founded Detroit's Outlier Media in 2016 and led the newsroom until 2025.

As a reporter and as a news consumer I know we need the news to be more useful to more people. These writings catalog and explore research, conversations, and ideas that can help us fix the news.

Why is it called understated?

A lot of assumptions are made by the people who produce and report the news. The number and significance of these assumptions would shock most people who don't work in the industry.

Most editors assume that if they think something is important, then it must actually be important and valuable. Many reporters and editors agonize about how to craft a story that will create empathy in the reader, without understanding if empathy is the best way to connect people. Most of us assume news is a critical way that we understand and navigate the world. The truth is, the news is a marginal player in the personal information landscapes of most people.

All of these understated or unstated assumptions have led to the news we have, which is not good or useful enough for most of us to use day-to-day. We need to dig into these assumptions and replace them with better ideas if we want to create the news and information systems we want and need

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A few things you should know

Everyone needs an editor, and I don't have one on this project! I use an AI-assisted spelling and grammar check called Language Tool. Expect copy errors anyway. I love an Oxford comma, but even my use of those beloved punctuation marks is inconsistent. When I find copy errors later, I'll go back and fix them. I won't issue a correction. If you want to tell me about errors, that's fine too. I don't expect any factual errors, but mistakes happen. If you see one of these, please do tell me. I'll address it and add correction language.

Learning and working in public means an evolution in ideas is expected. I'll be learning many things other people already know. I might be entering conversations that have been going on for years. I won't always know when an idea is new, or just new to me. If you have context or information that can help me, I'd love to know.

How do I get in touch?

Email is best. Just reach out to sarah@understated.blog or reply to any of the newsletters and I'll get back to you.