Cynthia Betubiza
Portfolio
- Editing
- Producing
- Reporting
- Writing
About Cynthia
Cynthia Betubiza is a journalist from Maryland who has covered policing, arts, tech, politics, and more at WAMU, WBUR, NPR, Marketplace, Vox, TED, and more.
With both reporting and producing experience, Cynthia has covered the Boston mayoral race, job cuts to the federal government and how they have impacted D.C.-area residents, how a speech-language pathologist shortage in public schools impacts D.C-area families, a battle over school receivership in the predominantly-Latino city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, the story of how one Afghan family resettled in Massachusetts after the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, and more.
Additionally, Cynthia helped produce long-form audio projects, like season one of the award-winning investigative series "On Our Watch", a documentary series from NPR and KQED that analyzed internal affairs departments and records of police misconduct in police departments across California.
She received her master’s from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and her B.A. in Journalism with a minor in African Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go, Heels!).
She is open to reporting, writing, editing, and producing projects.
Cynthia's Portfolio
I reported this story in which I followed two former HHS employees—one who was a toxicologist with the FDA working on safety regulations around e-cigarette use, and one who worked in communications for the NIH—who were let go from their positions by DOGE and the Trump administration. I visited their homes, interviewed them about their experiences, chronicled how they found out about being let go, and found out what’s next for them. Additionally, I interviewed public health experts to learn about the impact of these job cuts on the United States moving forward.
I reported this story about how a lack of speech-language pathologists in D.C. area schools impacts students and families. For this, I got to know multiple families, including that of Alicia Baines whose autistic son, 13-year-old Zay, went five months without the speech-language pathologist services he needed at his school. I focused not just on individual families, but also on the larger trends that are contributing to both the local and national shortage of speech-language pathologists in the United States.
I produced this story about how a family from Afghanistan was settling into Massachusetts in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of the country in 2021. I conducted interviews with a woman from the family, learning about the experiences that contributed to their decision to leave and what being in the United States was like.
I helped produce a limited-run, investigative podcast series called “On Our Watch” from NPR and KQED. Episode by episode, the series delved into a different case of police brutality and misconduct, uncovered from recently released internal affairs records from police departments across the state of California. I helped produce the entire first season.
Experience
Skills
- Story Editing
- Research
- Reporting
- Producing