Politics
This article was a summer-long project for my internship at The Oklahoman to inform Oklahoma about a staggering statistic and the lives that are being impacted.
I researched, pitched, interviewed and wrote the story, and it was published on Sept. 14 as the Sunday front page. From this experience, I learned about ethical and compassionate reporting and truly began to feel passion for investigative projects.
This story is another article completed during my time at The Oklahoman, published in print on July 13.
It educated me on how to be inquisitive but fair. I had to dig deeper into what happened, how and by who. I did all the reporting and writing. During this reporting, I had to have a keen listening ear and be quick on my feet with follow-up questions.
Health
My second article at The Oklahoman and my second front page, this story inspired my internship project and was published in print on June 10.
This story was a daily story and required a quick turnaround, so I had to utilize skills of compiling and sorting much information on a short deadline. I reported and wrote the story, though my editor assigned me the story idea. I learned the importance of checking numbers and making sense of statistics quickly, so that the audience could understand easily.
Maternity care deserts is a topic that I had covered previously, but this follow-up story earned me an Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists award–Second place in print outstanding online story.
Through this story, I found a passion for telling women’s health stories and further emphasized my care for rural areas. It was the first experience that I really felt I had formed relationships with sources from a previous story and could call on them again. The goal of this story was to bring attention to how drastic this situation is, and I believe it accomplished that after it was published in December 2024.
Feature
Published in August 2025, this article allowed me to revisit my first journalistic love–feature writing.
For this story, I visited Bethany Children’s Health Center for the ribbon cutting. I had to use my observation skills to pick up on crucial details for the story. I learned the importance of listening and watching, rather than speaking or leading the conversation.
This article was my first published story, shared in April 2023, my freshman year of college.
I gained exponential experience from this story, as it was my first time actually using interviewing and journalism skills. It was a unique story to work on and much conversation surrounded its release. It was the most read story on Gaylord News.
Kayden Anderson's Portfolio 