David Abel: As a reporter for The Boston Globe and a documentary filmmaker, David Abel casts light on serious environmental issues by crafting compelling stories that inspire action.

• Position: FIVE QUESTIONS FOR ...

Abel and his Globe colleagues won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. His latest award-winning documentary, "Entangled," shares the plight of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

1 How did your career as a storyteller start?

When I left Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I went to college, I drove across the country to San Francisco. There, I wrote an over-the-top, coming-of-age novel, read overwrought poetry at open mics, and volunteered for the Haight Ashbury Free Press. When the publisher asked if I would consider taking over the publication--a holdover from the 60s where I may have been the only writer not dropping acid--I knew it was time to move on. I went to do a master's program at Northwestern, which led me to my first paying job as a reporter for an expatriate newspaper in Mexico City.

2 How do you approach writing compared to filmmaking?

There are significant differences. Most stories aren't cinematic and don't lend themselves to the screen. But I try to approach both in the same ways--as exercises in probative, nuanced, and, hopefully, compelling storytelling. Whether in writing or on a screen, my goal is to unfurl a narrative, allowing the subjects to tell their stories with as little exposition or interference from a narrator as possible. My hope is to present a sufficient amount of reporting--by exploring the different strands of a story as fairly and thoughtfully as I can--that it allows readers or viewers to come to their own conclusions.

3 How have your experiences reporting abroad influenced your perspective?

We're all a product of our experiences, and I've been lucky enough to report and travel throughout the world.

My time in Latin America, especially while reporting in Cuba (where I began writing for The Boston Globe and...