I had the experience that especially activists (and teachers, as I also cover education) don’t like it when anything critical is published about them, and that they are very sensitive to criticism (much more than e.g. politicians). Maybe it’s different in the U.S., but I often felt there is this “are you one of us, of one of them?”-hesitation (“They” are the institutions, the state, the media…) True, listening and talking and explaining more will help for sure.

What’s funny is, is that I often got this from both sides: In my newspaper, I was considered as very political and almost too close to activists, from the activists I often got that I am not enough “one of them” so that they would tell me everything. So I felt like I fell between two stools. Would be great to discuss this more, maybe in class?