Print and online journalist with a love for photography based in Michigan.

As a member of Dearborn’s large and vibrant Arab American community, I bring a different perspective to my work. Whether I’m photographing exceptional projects, profiling changemakers, covering breaking news or investigating corruption, I always strive to put the story first.

I’m the Detroit City Hall and investigative reporter for The Detroit News. Aside from my beat, I focus on daily coronavirus reporting in Michigan, immigration topics, culture and communities. From 2022-2023, I partnered with the New York-Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative to write a series on a national caregiver shortage during the pandemic with a focus on solutions journalism.

I joined the breaking news desk in 2017 after graduating from Wayne State University with a bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in new media studies. I am a graduate of the Journalism Institute for Media Diversity, an honors program at the university. I not only represent Arab Americans in newsrooms but also serve as president of the Michigan chapter of (AAJA) Asian American Journalists Association.

In August 2024, I temporarily left my newsroom as I was chosen as a Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Here, I’m researching the challenges and successes that municipalities face as they support refugees and asylum seekers. She will also research the impact of growing refugee communities on local politics, economics and culture. At 29 years old, I’m among the youngest to be selected for this prestigious fellowship.

While many topics go under a microscope by journalists, many communities continue to be underrepresented. Our jobs, in part, are to give a microphone to the voiceless. I strive to gain the trust of the public and our readers, especially in a time of uncertainty. Restoring faith that journalism is a public necessity and that it can remain as ethical during the social media era as when Edward R. Murrow was relaying details of WWII. In doing so, I believe we are truly still crafting the first rough draft of history.

Please contact me directly for projects.

sarahal6611@gmail.com or sirahal@umich.edu