Jtm-pnw-session-diversity-news
Diverse Voices Attendees: Jessica Durkin, Anne Stadler, Carina Del Rosario, Kim Lowe, Aaron Hartwell, Jadine Ying, Irv Kass, Andrew Humphrey, Sam Kimball, Rosalinda Mendoza, Naomi Ishisaki, Athima Chansanchal, Brooke Jarvis, Sonya Green, Karen Rathe.
Introductions:
Naomi Ishisaka (OneAmerica) – Interested in how ethnic media institutions can find sustainable ways to stay alive and in this new landscape. We don’t want to recreate what happened in old media. We need to find a sustainable way to provide that news.
Rosalindo Mendoza (Washington Housing Trust) - As a non-profit, how do we effectively communicate what we represent?
Sam Kimball (Reclaim the Media) – This is an important convo and I want to be a part of this.
Andrew Humphrey (WDIV/TV4 Detroit, NABJ, spearheading JTM Detroit in June) – Here to receive and share info with folks, get useful info for JTM.
Irv Kass (TV news director/producer/blogger/media strategy business)
Jadine Ying - recently moved here from Singapore.
Aaron Hartwell (journalism, reporting, anti-war, lived in Beijing for a year)
Kim Lowe (MSN Local Edition) – Works for an online newspaper, interested in diverse & civil voices.
Brooke Jarvis (Yes magazine), a platform for a lot of diverse backgrounds.
Carina del Rosario (photojournalism, fmr International Examiner, media advocacy work in non-profits)
Anne Stadler – very aware other stories need to be told in their own ways, not homogenized into the mainstream media, by the mainstream media, also aware that we suffer from not hearing these stories, told in their own vital way. Very interested in not only finding their voices but using them to tell their stories.
Also hear to listen to ask you to listen, be aware of relationship to own communities we white people don’t have and don’t get.
Jessica Durkin (NAHJ) – Core mission: accurate and fair representation of Latinos in news and in newsrooms.
Michelle Ferrier: in Detroit June 3-6 JTM, follow-up conference projects that are incubated. Take open space, design, build, pitch to conferences. Tracking them for a year and doing it over again, part of one of our intentions, help enroll you in those conferences.
Invite you to participate with us in creating Detroit, NC projects.
Concerns about diverse voices and what’s happening with ethnic media and resources and challenges of telling authentic stories.
Jessica: Anecdote. This fall, attended a whole bunch of journalism seminars, went to Richmond, VA – VA News Association, trying to train a lot of old media, to network, put NAHJ out front in their minds. Editor of one of the major papers said maybe NAHJ could come down and tell us, show us how to write stories about Latino community. I guess we could serve in that role, but that was odd, let’s put them in your newsroom. A) find Latinos, how to write for them, get them as an audience B) Maybe we should consult/charge for this service.
In white newsrooms, there is no coverage or crime or overcompensation, always a cliché. Would be nice to get away from the clichés.
Andrew – The American notion of race so scary for everybody, as soon as race is interjected, they become very uncomfortable with it. Presenting the subject of race as a non-issue is an easier way to break the ice or communicate with others.
Carina: Cultural and language barriers, same issues English speaking folks care about, immigrant parents also care about, but ability to communicate those concerns is different. How do we create space for those to be explored, what’s the common ground? How can those gaps be bridged? Do we go out to communities and use tools to tell their own stories?
Michelle: may help to open up discussion to talk about how we do news? How do we access people at different levels?
Anne: mainstream journalism have hit and run technique for getting a story. It's critical we have a whole different approach to telling a story. Maybe blog can tell a bigger story.
Athima: If diverse voices aren’t at the table, no one to challenge the formulaic approach to some news stories that look for the obligatory ethnic/racial/stereotypical quote.
Michelle: Who’s going to catch that? You become that lightning rod, voice for all XYZ. It’s a heavy burden, because you happen to be a representative of that XYZ.
Irv – did you (Michelle) being there become sensitized to changing?
Michelle: No, if I wasn’t there, it would go there.
Irv: Boss has to help that happen.
Michelle: People are sensitive to being chastised. Historically black college depicted with photographs of white people.
Jessica: it’s a slower process without the catchers. In Scranton, 90% white, I spoke up as an NAHJ member – terminology of undocumented vs. illegal. Get to NE PA and “illegals” everywhere. Went to editor. “Illegals” vs. “Japs” fits – space constraints.
Michelle: there’s an awareness screen that needs to come up. Maynard Institute does diversity training, set of questions for reporters to ask themselves as they go through stories.
Irv – in San Diego, terminology changed in 90’s – adopted undocumented, but government still says illegals
Michelle: do we need embedded journalists to get authentic stories?
Carina: in some ways, is there a place for non-profit, community based organizations where stories are going to be coming from? They’re not hit and run, they’re trusted, there to stay, trusted community resources. Smart reporters will go to those organizations. You might get something more from them than a reporter.
Andrew: St. Pete Times
Carina: struggle with limitations. Mainstream media has the power, but non-profits are the ones sitting on information.
Andrew: Newsrooms need to plug into those resources.
Irv: We did that in 1990 (embedding). Community organizer had most articulate voice, he worked with us in our newsroom. Paired him with a photographer and able to get at things we never could, got in place where African American staff could not get into.
Michelle: Who do we go to in sourcing of our stories? We tend to go back to the same sources.
Anne: We had a database, people would go to gatherings, on certain subjects and they would go and we didn’t do things as smartly as we might, but people talked to each other, here’s the situation. Don’t think it’s fair to rely on the embedded people, who are repeatedly put into the same role.
Irv: That’s leadership. You have to set the tone.
Anne: You need people to help generate stories from community to those newsrooms.
Michelle: created online community in Daytona Beach, for the paper. Role was to go to different community groups, here is a tool where you can speak to the audience, you can tell stories directly. People self-censored their own stories. They’ve been trained to think what they have to say is not important. How do we create spaces for them to participate? They’ve disengaged and feel invalidated through our (newspapers’) work.
Irv: Journalism is generated also by non-journalists. Journalists have to recognize that and help non-journalists.
Andrew: conversation about ownership. If you’re with a non-profit and you have stories you want to get out, you can tell it yourself or through your organization.
Naomi: Given fact mainstream media not exactly growing, but we’re talking about improving it, creating third space might be more sustainable. A lot of concerns we’re having is the same we’ve been talking about for 20 years.
Andrew: Technology will allow us to see the whole world, through devices where we’re getting information from.
Michelle: How does technology facilitate conversation? Who’s going to teach these non-profits to use this technology?
Andrew: Rest of world 6.5 billion, US only 300 million. Education gap in US is far lagging than many parts of the world, innovation, US one of few places with free press.
Michelle: Really a conversation about how do we create the platforms – Taking on the System (Daily Cause) – concrete examples of how non-profits, community orgs can take technology and redirect conversation.
Athima: ELP project in Michigan - letting kids tell their own stories.
Andrew: Pen and papers can be transferred, can go to libraries.
Michelle: speak to Steven Silha, Childrens Express
Carina: Bridges to Understanding (Seattle-based), partner with schools/NGOs, kids identified story in their community to talk about, taught them reporting skills, as a group brainstorming on those questions, what are the gaps, working with them to edit a slideshow piece, a lot of digital stories online. Also Youth Media Institute (Whitecenter).
Shayna: getting diverse voices out there – how many are teaching them how to tell their stories. There are other ways. We need to connect with communities we live in.
Rosalinda: how have people been able to tell folks how to tell their stories?
Karen Rathke: works with ethnic papers, link to those papers as well.
