Truth Tug-of-War

A city and its people divided [View this email online]( [Invisibilia]( Art by [Qieer Wang.]( Where do we go from here? In the final episode of "The Chaos Machine" series, we survey the impact that 209 Times has had on the Stockton community. We learn that this is not just a story about one city. It’s a story about our current post-truth pickle and how you can trace some of the problem to people losing faith in institutions that are supposed to serve them. What are the larger forces at play when this happens? And what can possibly be done about it? [Listen to the Episode]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- Dive Deeper --------------------------------------------------------------- - [Sophia Rosenfeld]( - [Professor of History]( and author of [Democracy and Truth: A Short History]( - [Sarah Alvarez]( - Founder and Editor, [Outlier Media]( Not ready to say goodbye to Stockton? A listener sent us this 15-part series that he produced as a “labor of love” for his hometown. His focus? Positive stories of people who are working to address real issues in Stockton: - “[Voices of the Community]( by George Koster Moving Away From “Extractive Journalism” with Jade Begay, Alicia Bell, and Bettina Chang --------------------------------------------------------------- [Jade Begay]( [Alicia Bell]( and [Bettina Chang]( In the series, we wrestle with the current state of journalism - how we’re failing the communities we’re supposed to serve and how we can possibly do better. We talked to several brilliant thinkers to help us reimagine journalism as we know it. Q: What is extractive journalism? How does it affect people? Bettina Chang: Extractive journalism is when you are taking a lot from a community and you're not giving a lot back. One of our partners in Chicago, Asiaha Butler, who's the Executive Director of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, says, “Every night at 5:00 PM, I turn on the TV and I see local news attack my community.” That's what it feels like to her when the news covers things like shootings or fires in her neighborhood. These are communities that only see themselves in the news when something awful happens — when it's literally the worst day of somebody's life. The news comes in and they put a big microphone into somebody's space and shine a bright light, and they say, “How do you feel about that?” And whatever terror, horror, or whatever, or even if it's joy, they are asked to give that up to the news and they never see any returns from it. I think that as journalists we're taught that what we do is a service, no matter what. I think that's an assumption that needs to be challenged. People do not always benefit from the content that we produce. When we post a mugshot of somebody who's been charged with a crime, but they didn't commit it, and they can never get that down from the website, that is not a service that we're providing anybody. Q: How can we move towards healthier, non-extractive journalism? Alicia Bell: If we're going to get somewhere else that is sustainable, that is not extractive, that is in a right relationship with each other, that lifts up the humanity of all people--then it has to include media reparations. Reparations at its core is a process of addressing harm, figuring out how to repair and reconcile it and create redress for it, and then create accountability mechanisms so that the harm doesn't happen again. When we're thinking about media operations, we're really thinking about it in four different categories. What is the acknowledgment that needs to happen? Then, what is the reckoning? (How do you teach people about it? How do you create public conversation?) And then, the redress. (What is the rehabilitation or the restitution or the proactive steps that then embed racial justice?) And then, what's the accountability that comes out of that and the accountability mechanisms that address the harm, but then also make sure that it doesn't happen into the future? That model with the four quadrants of reparations [acknowledgement, reckoning, redress, accountability] has come out of a model that a group called [Liberation Ventures]( created, and they created this cycle by distilling the UN's definition of reparations, the Movement for Black Lives’s definition of reparations, [Sandy Darity]( at Duke’s definition of reparations — they pulled from many different ways people talk about reparations and shared it with us. [In a community, steps like redress] could look like community foundations or state-based foundations creating local Black news funds that can build up the capacity, skill sets, and the resources of Black owned news organizations — and doing that in coalition with folks thinking about that for communities of color at large. There's more options [for what reparations could look like] because I know that working collaboratively with folks across the country will generate many more ideas than I could by myself. Jade Begay: I’m starting to come from this place of trauma-informed storytelling. So knowing that, if I'm interviewing someone who is sharing a story about the injustice they are experiencing, or if they're telling me about a past trauma, that's emotional work. That's labor and it could be even retraumatizing for them to share that story. And so I want to be reciprocal with that subject. I want to give them some things so that they can nourish themselves or take care of themselves in whatever way feels good to them after they're sharing a vulnerable story with me. I think reciprocity is and can be money — so, paying someone for their time and their emotional labor. Something I've done many times when I'm working specifically with an indigenous person or an indigenous community is I come with gifts like tobacco and even have that moment together before we start the interview, lighting sage or putting some tobacco down to pray for a good interview and that our words are strong. Reciprocity is sharing that prayer together, offering that prayer for each other. I think it could be other things too — it's just something in exchange. Just leaving the person you're creating a story with high and dry — that kind of helicopter-ing in and out is what my community is used to and what my people are used to seeing and experiencing. [As a storyteller,] I come with that lived experience of seeing that happen to me and my people over and over again. So I know not to show up that way. I know to come prepared, to come knowing that storytelling is hard and that people have been exploited for their stories. So I try to come in and give a more healing experience to creating a story together. I really think we have to question these [journalism standards like not paying sources]. Why [do they exist]? For who? Who made them? For what reasons? Is it because of money? Is it because of capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy? I think a lot of these standards are rooted in those colonial structures and institutions. So when we're talking about decolonizing media, we have to question why these rules and guidelines exist and ask, why are we following them still? Do they work for our world in 2021? Jade Begay is a storyteller and organizer who works as the Climate Justice Campaign Director at [NDN Collective]( an indigenous-led organization that aims to build indigenous power through organizing, advocacy, philanthropy, and investment in Indian country. Alicia Bell is the Director of [Media 2070]( a project from [Free Press]( that explores the history of U.S. media participation in anti-Black racism and builds a consortium of media-makers and activists to dream up reparative policies, interventions and futures. Bettina Chang is the Executive Editorial Director at [City Bureau]( a Chicago-based organization that tries to imagine a better future for local news and the communities that news organizations serve. City bureau produces news content in tandem with trainings, workshops, facilitated discussions, and other services it provides to its community. We Need Your Help --------------------------------------------------------------- If there’s one thing this past year has taught us, it’s that we miss our friends. So, for the next season of Invisibilia, we’re interested in hearing your stories about friendship. Do you have a burning question? A good story that has stuck with you? Maybe there’s just something specific about friendship that the pandemic has made you miss, or ideas about trying to achieve a “new normal” with your friends? If you want to talk about it, send us an email or a voice memo to [invisibiliamail@npr.org](mailto:invisibiliamail@npr.org?subject=Friendship%20) or just reply to this email with your story or question! --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( What do you think of today's email? 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