News production practices and the need for inclusivity

In an exclusive interview with Find Out Why, Zoë Papaikonomou , an Amsterdam based investigative journalist, author, keynoter, media educator and diversity advocate shares compelling insights into the practices of inclusive journalism.

Zoë answers timely questions:

-how mainstream media outlets can foster a culture of belonging where everyone’s talents are nurtured and celebrated?

-what tools chief editors can wield to practice inclusion?

- why inclusion strategies at the center of media workforce, workplace, and marketplace can significantly affect both the content quality and the audience’s expansion?

She outlines the importance of new media education in today’s information world and the challenges of the online culture of anger and hate at specific social media platforms.

This interview sheds light at the decisions involved prior to the news production and inspires us on deciding what we should look for during our media consumption.

By Elena Gkiola

Q: How would you describe your work?

My work is primarily focused on diversity and inclusion within the mainstream media -or better yet the lack of diversity and inclusion in mainstream media. The majority of the journalists who work for big Dutch media outlets form a very homogeneous group, that can be roughly described as middle/upper class, white and male dominant. My main focus is to explore how the work of this homogeneous group affects the content to which the Dutch audience is exposed at. That said, I sincerely trust that with their coverage they intend to present thorough researched stories. However there are a lot of differences between individual journalists.

Q: How would you describe the (mainstream) Dutch media landscape?

Media outlets in the Netherlands are conservative, they do not like change. They’ve been working in a certain way for a long time and they do not adapt fast. Adapting to online coverage for example, was very difficult for a lot of television and newspaper outlets. They’re quite arrogant as well. They are very used to reflect on everything; they’re researching and reflecting on power, because that’s their job. Nevertheless, they are not really used to being reflected upon. In addition they are very short term focused. This makes sense of course because they are news people: they produce their piece and when this is finished they move on to the next. However, if we are talking about diversity, which I am convinced it makes our news quality much better, one needs patience. It needs a lot of attention and that is challenging.

Q: Are they transparent?

I believe that content’s trustworthiness is extremely important. Hence, I think journalists should find ways to explain how they have come by their sources, why they choose their topics etc. I see that in some Anglo-Saxon countries especially they give a bit more background context, like who they have interviewed and why.

This is lacking in the Netherlands. There’s no explanation for example for the choice of sources. Imagine that: you watch a talk show and there’s some kind of expert guest on a buzzing topic. Most probably, you would never hear the presenter saying: “well, this is X, who is expert on y. We found five other experts on y, but they didn’t have the time to come, so we stick with X.” Instead they will say: “this is X who is the best expert on y, the greatest achiever in that area etc.”

I always teach students that the sources should be relevant. Nevertheless there are more than one relevant experts on a topic and even further more than one relevant topics deserving attention and coverage. One should be honest and open about the decision making process towards the final content produced.

Q: What has to change in order for Dutch media to reach that point of openness, according to your view?

I think as journalists, we should be a little bit more humble; humble on the way we present ourselves and more transparent in the way we work. We are people and we of course have our own prejudices. We have our own thoughts about life. To claim that we are neutral is not accurate. I feel it’s really important for professionals to keep evolving by honestly and consistently reflecting on themselves.

Q: Do you see a shift towards freelance journalism? How would you explain it?

The profession is getting smaller. For some, freelance might be the only option.

However, there is a number of colleagues out there, who chose to become freelancers because they want to have freedom, myself included. We want to bring news or information in a form or in a way that we feel is more in depth and more informative. Mainstream media here do not give you that space. There are a lot of rules and mechanisms that make the job less creative.

There are many ways to build up a story, but with big media outlets it’s difficult to experiment; there is never time. The tagline of news media is often quick and a lot: they want to have content all the time and they want to be the first. People working there have to be focused on just producing a lot, so there’s not time to research a story very thoroughly. That’s also why they copy a lot from other news outlets.

I think many people who chose journalism have had a different idea on what they would be expected to do. As far as it concerns me, I knew that when I co-authored with Annebregt Dijkman the book “Get an angry Muslim for me” I had said my goodbyes to mainstream media. Critical voices are much liked on the outside, but definitely not from within.

Nowadays, the stories I want to tell and the perspectives I want to showcase often do not fit in a lot of traditionally big media outlets here in the Netherlands.

Freelance journalists — at least many of them that go their own way and have their own platforms- they are quite honest about how they work and the perspective they have. Audience responds to that. They get a lot of followers.

Q: You said the profession is getting smaller. I believe you refer to job opportunities within commercial media outlets. What about non-profit organizations that support investigative journalism through funding. Is that a viable alternative?

In my experience, the existing journalistic funds have a lot of rules. Some of them are quite old school in the way they judge who should get a funding. There’s a lot of interesting research being done, but I feel that everything has to be “revealing” in order to be funded as a project. If you want to apply for a fund, you have to show what you’re going to “reveal” something usually related to politics or money scandals etc. And it’s very important of course, but I would argue that there are many additional ways to “reveal” stuff; one of those being the lack of diversity and inclusion. Unfortunately, revealing about diversity and inclusion is considered less “sexy” in general.

Q: What does the audience miss when there is not diverse and inclusive media content?

For me, inclusive journalism should be just journalism, because journalism should be by definition inclusive. I do find cultural representation very important, especially if you look at the Netherlands. We are a country where, for example, in Amsterdam the norm are bicultural citizens. Nevertheless, in Amsterdam television most of the people that work there are not bicultural. This poses a limitation on the choice of topics and perspectives, that the audience will ultimately miss. Diversity should ensure a variety in perspectives. Having a diverse workforce means that they are allowed to bring in different perspectives; if they have to do what everybody is doing already [even if they are bicultural], there is no difference in the content produced at all.

Q: Do people trust media in The Netherlands?

There is definitely an issue with trust. I think in one survey it was one of the least trusted institutions in the Netherlands — even under the church and other public institutions. Nevertheless my feeling is that still a lot of people rely on mainstream outlets for their news consumption. Age being a factor here of course.

Q: What about the role of social media?

I think the audience under the age of 50 roughly and especially the younger groups, they consume news via social media.

Q: Is that a safe alternative for the quality of news consumption?

I do feel that the education of the public from an early age is very important. People should be able to answer an important question for themselves: “how do I choose my news sources?”

I do think it’s really important and for quite some time with my company I provided trainings on news literacy online.

Q: What would be your advice for our readers?

To check different kinds of news outlets, to diversify their news sources. This is already a good start. In the Netherlands some investigative, journalistic focused platforms do exist. I would also recommend following individual journalists. I think we live in an era that trustworthiness is attached to the individual. If you follow individual journalists consistently then you are familiar with their work and perspective.

Q: Which social media outlets do you use?

LinkedIn. This is the biggest social media outlet that I use in order to communicate my work online.

Q: Why only LinkedIn?

Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, are hijacked by disseminators of propaganda and hate speech. This is actually scary for the press freedom in the Netherlands. I find myself thinking a lot what to say when I am interviewed by bigger platforms. I would even ask them to not share my interviews on Twitter. Being confronted with angry comments and offensive posts is not pleasant for anyone. It can be quite traumatizing as well. Many journalists do not understand that, because they are not experiencing it themselves. Actually this is another reason we need more diversity in Dutch media.

Q: What are your projects currently?

I’m working on a new book. The focus this time is on diversity as a profession. My co-author and I, we interview people who are corporate diversity officers or have diversity in their portfolio within the HR department. With this work we aspire to create a practical constructive manual for managers and individuals who want to know more about how an organization can be more diverse. It is a long term, investigative project that we believe adds in the discussion of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. I also produce and present several podcasts and have a column in Nieuw Wij.

Follow Zoë Papaikonomou on LinkedIn.

Find her column on Nieuw Wij.

Listen to her podcast.