Darian Stevenson

I’m a breaking news reporter who spends most days chasing the question everyone wants answered: What happened?

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But the question I’m usually most interested in comes next: Why does it matter?

I currently report for syracuse.com | The Post-Standard, covering breaking news, public safety, courts and the stories that can change by the minute. My days can involve anything from tracking down court records and calling police departments to standing at a scene with a notebook, interviewing families or trying to make sense of a complicated story on deadline. Breaking news is fast. There are names, numbers, charges, statistics and facts to verify — usually while the clock is ticking.

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Somewhere in all of that, though, I’m always looking for the person.

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Before moving into breaking news, much of my journalism lived in the feature and lifestyle world. When I made the transition, one of my biggest fears was that I would lose the human voice that made me fall in love with storytelling in the first place. I quickly learned I didn't have to.

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If anything, breaking news has made that voice feel even more important.

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A statistic can tell you how often something happens. A court document can tell you what someone is accused of doing. A police report can tell you when officers arrived. But a person can tell you what it felt like to live through it, what was lost, what changed and why any of those facts should matter to someone who wasn't there.

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That's the story I'm always searching for.

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My work hasn't always fit neatly into one box. I've written locally about the people and communities on Syracuse's South Side, freelanced for POPSUGAR and covered everything from lifestyle and culture to crime, courts and breaking news. Each experience has taught me something different about the kind of journalist — and storyteller — I want to be.

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I'm originally from the St. Louis area and earned my bachelor's degree in mass communications from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville before moving to Syracuse, New York, where I earned my master's degree from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Syracuse is now home.

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As for what's next? I'm interested in building a career that leaves room for all sides of my creativity.

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I dream about doing work that is thoughtful, inclusive and unafraid to have a heart. I want to tell impactful stories about real people, explore culture and lifestyle, experiment with different forms of storytelling and create work that makes someone stop scrolling for a second because they felt something. I'm especially interested in opportunities that let journalism and creativity coexist — where strong reporting doesn't require sacrificing personality, curiosity or compassion.

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For now, you'll probably find me somewhere between a breaking news alert, a court proceeding and a conversation with someone who reminds me that the best stories have never really been about the numbers.

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They've always been about the people behind them.