{"id":295166,"date":"2026-09-27T18:56:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T18:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/295166\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T18:56:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T18:56:47","slug":"meet-public-source-interns-octavia-liku-and-danny-arensberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/295166\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Public Source interns Octavia Liku and Danny Arensberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Jamie Wiggan, Pittsburgh’s Public Source
September 27, 2026<\/p>\n

When the Supreme Court\u2019s overturning of Roe v. Wade sent protesters spilling into the streets on June 24, 2022, Danny Arensberg grabbed his camera and followed the crowds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back then, he was considering career paths in portraiture and fashion while studying photography at New York University. As the protests surged on through the summer, Arensberg got to know the regular pool of photographers, who helped nudge him toward photojournalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He comes to Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source by way of Athens, Ohio, where he\u2019s studying for his masters in photojournalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great first moment coming into Pittsburgh via the Fort Pitt Bridge,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful way to see Pittsburgh for the first time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While that first glimpse lit up his photographer\u2019s eye, it also retraced the path of his grandparents, both of whom had studied at Pitt after meeting in New York. From his studio apartment in the South Side, Arensberg finds in Pittsburgh elements of his hometown and his interim home in Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of a time portal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

‘There was nobody around to tell their story’<\/p>\n

Octavia Liku also came to Pittsburgh via New York. And while she doesn\u2019t have roots in this city, her parents\u2019 influence hung over her first story at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s student newspaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Signing up for the Tartan<\/a> to hone her writing skills, Liku learned of desperate morale among custodian staff whose lapsed contracts created turnover, shortages and allegations of mistreatment. She threw herself into the story, and related their experiences to memories of shadowing her dad around job sites as a plumber. Often, they\u2019d enter a wealthy home to unblock a toilet \u2014 and be told to take off their shoes at the door.<\/p>\n

Liku interviewed the campus custodial workers anonymously because they told her they feared employer retribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat story was important because there was nobody around to tell their story,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Words and images as public service<\/p>\n

A year after Dobbs, the Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza set off another wave of protests. Grappling with how to cover these also proved formative to Arensberg, as he leaned on the Associated Press style book for guidance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to make sure my captioning and understanding of such a contentious conflict was accurate,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arensberg said the polarization he witnessed convinced him of the importance of staying impartial as a reporter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arensberg\u2019s strongest guiding principle, though, is pursuing journalism as a \u201cpublic service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to inform the public through photos,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a power in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liku is similarly motivated when it comes to applying journalism as a force for good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She believes journalism involves \u201cobjective processes,\u201d though that shouldn\u2019t necessarily yield objective outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think journalism is about being an activist,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think you can take a passive role in your community and attribute that to impartiality. I think you have to have a stake.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also concerned by how journalism has veered from its working class roots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Liku\u2019s immigrant parents urged her to study STEM, she opted for a less trodden path.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be an artist and journalist, and they seem to be increasingly difficult things to do these days.\u201d She bets on Pittsburgh as the place to do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AOctavia Liku. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)<\/p>\n

Octavia Liku<\/p>\n

Age: 19
\nEducation\/major: BFA in art, BS in ethics, history, and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University
\nDream job: Investigative journalist, painter<\/p>\n

\"ADanny Arensburg. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)<\/p>\n

Danny Arensberg<\/p>\n

Age: 23
\nEducation\/major: BFA in photography from New York University\u2019s Tisch School of the Arts, masters degree in photojournalism from Ohio University\u2019s School of Visual Communications (in progress, graduating ~May 2028)
\nDream job: Staff photographer at Associated Press<\/p>\n

Jamie Wiggan is deputy editor for Pittsburgh Public Source. He can be reached jamie@publicsource.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/www.publicsource.org\/public-source-interns-liku-arensberg\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/www.publicsource.org”>Pittsburgh’s Public Source<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.publicsource.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-ps_circle_favicon_blue.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n

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