Political Reporters not Exempt from Stories that ‘Reflect the Complexity of our Society’: Journalists, Experts
This short excerpt from the Hill Times delves into the question of how political reporters go about covering diverse issues.
Two suggestions for finding diverse sources from a Nieman Reports article is to explain the process of how journalism works, and to expand the definition of an expert to include people with lived experience and those impacted by the issue directly.
“Be mindful of those kinds of stereotypes about communities like we hear about severe mental illnesses in the context of some kind of criminal or violent moment,” Gavin Adamson, associate journalism professor at Ryerson University, said.
He specifically pointed to a pattern wherein mental health is stigmatized because of an incident, pushing people to not get treatment, causing more incidents in an endless cycle.
For Mr. Robertson, reporting well on a diverse community involves familiarization with the issues at hand and a deep understanding of the community. Breakout stories, like the headliners around sexual misconduct in the military, only come, he said, from building sources and investigative reporting.
Reporters miss stories, he said, “because they’re marginalized and if you’re not a good reporter you’re only hearing from sources you can easily be” in touch with.
Erica Ifill, co-owner of Not In My Colour and a columnist for The Hill Times, said it can be as simple as writing about what effect a policy will have.
“Nobody knows how to write about policies. Like this policy is bad, because this will be who it effects … this is what the outcome is,” Ms. Ifill said.
Asked whether it was possible to stray from journalism to activism, Ms. Blanchett stressed that presenting arguments in a way where one seems to have more merit with proper contextualization isn’t crossing the line, it’s just that they “have a better case,” and you’re reporting on that.
Mr. Adamson also said there should be a framing of the story based on solutions. Rather than just focusing on the trauma, it’s about showing the power of the marginalized community at hand and the solution they’re coming to together.
There’s also the issue of whether newsrooms themselves have enough diversity.
Independent Senator Ratna Omidvar (Ontario) said while there is more variety among newsroom reporters, that’s not necessarily leaking out into coverage. This is because, she said, editorial boards are still largely white. Journalism organizations, she continued, need to make diversity a business imperative that influences the entire paper’s actions. Sen. Omidvar’s podcast, Moving the Needle on Wicked Problems, recently delved into the issue of diversity in journalism.