About Fred
Fred de Sam Lazaro is director of the Under-Told Stories Project at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, a program that combines international journalism and teaching. He has served with the PBS NewsHour since 1985 and is a regular contributor and substitute anchor for PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.
He also has directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the documentary series Wide Angle. Fred has reported from more than 60 countries: from Haiti to sub-Saharan Africa to south Asia. He has focused on stories that are under-reported in the mainstream U.S. media. In addition to regularly covering AIDS, public health concerns, development issues and social entrepreneurship, he led the first American crew to report on the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.
Fred is the recipient of two honorary doctorates, numerous journalism awards and media fellowships from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Michigan. He serves on the board of Minnpost and was a trustee at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, his alma mater. He also has served on the boards of the Asian American Journalists Association and the Children's Law Center of Minnesota.
Fred’s Recent Stories
World Apr 17
This innovator is trying to make sanitary pads affordable for women in IndiaArunachalam Murugananthan is known as India's pad man. Breaking a strict taboo in India's tradition-bound society, Murugananthan worked to perfect an affordable sanitary pad in hope of starting a movement to help women in the developing world. Special correspondent Sam…
World Aug 18
Column: How my reporting trip to Ethiopia came to an abrupt endWe came to Ethiopia to report on the country’s response to a historic drought. We left with a very different story and a taste of how hard it is for journalists, even those on what should have been a mostly…
World Sep 16
Doctor slashes the cost of surgeries for India’s poorTo keep costs of heart surgeries low for poor populations in India, Narayana Health took a partnership approach.
Nation Aug 07
My story as an Indian immigrantForty years ago, I arrived in America with none of the social bona fides, the pedigree that comes from T-ball, Boy Scouts, junior prom or graduating from the local high school.
World Apr 24
Human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud shot dead in KarachiSabeen Mahmud was a human rights activist owner of a coffee shop and performance space in Karachi, Pakistan, designed to bring people together. On Friday, Mahmud, 40, was fatally gunned down as she left T2F (The Second Floor) following an…
Nation Oct 30
Food truck church brings faith and calzones to those in needEvery Thursday, the Rev. Margaret Kelly and a group of volunteers gather in the basement of St. Paul’s Gustavus Adolphus Church to roll out hundreds of meat- and cheese-filled calzones, to be loaded and baked in her food truck and…
World Sep 22
Reporter’s Notebook: Covering Ebola in Nigeria while navigating corruptionThe story of Ebola in Nigeria is an unusual and frankly rare one about things going right somewhere in Africa, albeit with fingers crossed for fear that it could quickly change. The numbers are remarkable: just 21 cases of Ebola…
World Jul 03
Uneasy alliance in Bangladesh reveals complex social issuesA partnership with multinational corporations in Bangladesh reveals the complex social issues that underlie poverty and compromises anti-poverty activists must make to achieve growth and self-sustainability.
World Apr 09
Questions linger a year after Bangladesh’s garment factory collapseOn the afternoon of April 23, 2013, workers at the Rana Plaza offices of BRAC Bank were concerned about recent cracks that had appeared in the walls of the building. Their manager ordered tellers to complete transactions they were working…
World Jan 21
Building enterprises and self-esteem at the Philippines’ Enchanted FarmANGAT, Philippines -- To Antonio "Tony" Meloto, migration is both culprit and symptom of the entrenched poverty in the Philippines. It is a poverty of self-esteem as much as anything material, he adds.
