Voice to the Voiceless: Part 1
The mission of every journalist
‘Boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience. Seek sources whose voices we seldom hear.’
‘Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Give voice to the voiceless.’
The Society of Professional Journalists lists these two tenets under the first principle of the Journalist’s Code of Ethics. These two tenets embody part of the bravery represented by journalists in the field to not only “Seek Truth and Report It,” but to explore with a creative and unbiased mind the places, people, and stories that have never been found before. The late Professor Alex Tizon often compared it to Star Trek, that the job of journalists is “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
In a world inundated with information, the internet, and the daily news, sometimes it seems like a difficult task. I was told growing up that there was nothing new under the sun, and that there were over 6 billion people living on the planet, plus the trillions of people who had lived before, so how could any story still be unique?
But the more people I’ve met in my short lifetime, the more I realize that every single person is an individual with a story to tell. This is why I am a journalist. Not to break the first story, certainly not to make money, and not even to be famous. What I want is to do justice to the individual accounts of people who may not otherwise be able to share about their lives, and I want to capture these stories using an audio format that will digitize and immortalize every one of them.
Has this been done before?
Yes and no. There are a hundred places to find people telling their stories. Projects like Radiolab and This American Life have been sharing in the form of podcasts for years. Their existence is part of what has motivated me and given me ideas for moving forward with my own project.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be looking closely at StoryCorps, The Story Trek, and Scene On Radio for inspiration and analysis. In each case, I will be asking the following questions: how did these projects begin? why were they started? and what has been their effects in their respective communities?
With this knowledge, I will be better able to format and produce my own work to give voice to the voiceless.
Why audio?
Audio is a powerful tool, as radio has proved. Since its inception, public radio has captured the attention of individuals from every race, culture, gender, and age from all corners of the world. A 2016 report from Edison Research suggests that though the ownership of in-home over-the-air radios has declined across America, it still holds a 79% saturation (68% for 18–34-year-olds). The report also suggests that the listeners who are leaving over-the-air are moving to a more portable format such as online radio streaming. A 2016 report from the Pew Research Center concurs, stating that “the American public’s consumption of audio content, which includes radio news and talk shows in addition to music, sports and other programming, continues to increase.”
Radio is portable and can be played in the background. It can be streamed through an iPhone on the way to school or work, while doing the dishes, or while going on a run. In other words, people are listening because it’s convenient, more convenient than reading the paper or watching the evening news.
Not only is the audience present and growing, audio has a history of changing lives. The BBC has been using the World Service Radio to tell stories, to connect generations and cultures, and to save lives. In Nepal, the radio has been broadcasting practical advice and guidance on how to survive and rebuild after the devastating 2015 earthquake. In Myanmar (Burma), the radio is running a fictional radio series called The Tea Cup Diaries to build up and unite the community by encouraging conflict-resolution and family relationships. Through these broadcasts, the BBC is changing lives around the world, and I want to do the same, though on a much smaller scale.
My project
Every human who reaches old age has stories to tell, some funny, some embarrassing, some painful, and some profound. But I have found in my own experience that many of my grandparents and other elderly acquaintances have died or contracted serious Alzheimer’s before I really understood the stories they had to tell. Now I wish I could go back and record what they had to say. I obviously can’t do that, but there is something I can do.
There are over twenty senior citizen living communities in Eugene, Oregon with hundreds of residents whose stories are literally dying. I want to record and share their memories before that happens, so they can be remembered and immortalized, and so future generations can learn of their love, loss, and sacrifice. This project is about giving a voice to those who don’t have one in two steps: (1) by recording their stories and turning them into a series of podcasts titled 1000 Years Immortal, and (2) by promoting community involvement in the continual creation of similar podcasts.
This is meant as a long-term journalist project that will answer the following questions: How is my project unique? Why hasn’t it been done before? Why is it important? And what are the possibilities for multi-platform work and franchisement?
