Kumbaya: The Science of Bringing Communities and Journalists Together
Trust, visibility, and an open mind
On the emerging scenes of solutions journalism and international media development, journalists are wanting to immerse themselves in the environments of their subjects to encourage dialogue and horizontal communication with the final result being community engagement…or perhaps even a Kumbaya moment. The article “Listening is a Revolutionary Act: Part 1” discusses one journalist’s revelation of “focused-listening.”
“I wanted to engage communities in a longer term, more meaningful way, not just as subjects, but also as diverse, unique audiences,” says Jesse Hardman, journalist and media development specialist. Like Hardman, many aspiring and veteran journalists seek to engage communities in ways that are beneficial not just for the sake of the story but to strengthen the relationship between writers and subjects.
Hardman’s view on community engagement emerged during his journalistic research and observation of a high school classroom in order to collect their thoughts on the environmental problems in their town. During this time, he began to realize that his preconceived ideas of what the students would talk about was very different from what they actually had to say. However, the unpredictable information the students shared wasn’t so off topic but instead added to the layers of their environment that Hardman was studying for his story and enhanced his relationship with them. This experience led him down the rabbit hole of international media development and community engagement.
In Sri Lanka, Hardman started to piece two and two together and the concept of community engagement revealed itself to him. Through his work with Lifeline, a newspaper and radio show, he was able to forge a connection between community members and himself as a journalist. Hardman further explains how his idea of community engagement was developed by stating “…we were getting information from our target audience, and then giving information back to them that reflected their needs, creating what media developers like to call a “two-way conversation.”
It is important that journalists take the ideas and voices of their audience and/or subjects into consideration because horizontal and participatory communication can yield desirable results for the story. But more importantly, allow the audience and/or subject to trusts the media and come together more often to have long-lasting relationships. Community engagement is part of the media development and writing process.
Community engagement most definitely challenges the traditional ideas communities and journalist have of one another. For instance, communities that are often misrepresented and villainized by the media don’t trust reporters. In some cases, talking to a news reporter is the equivalent of talking to the police and deemed as trading or snitching on one’s own community. On the other hand, some journalists are only interested in the community to get a good quote for a story and then they never return for follow up. Or, the journalist tells the community the idea of their proposed story and then frames the community in a light or situation that wasn’t previously discussed or is false and/or negative. Therefore, positive reinforcement of ethical journalistic approaches and community engagement efforts are needed to get over these challenges.
Lastly, the American Press Institute conducted a review on how news organizations used “focused-listening” (aka community engagement) to create that Kumbaya moment and build trust between communities and journalists. The news organizations in the article showed that community engagement can be achieved through transparency in developing story angles, community focus groups, pop-up newsrooms, and town hall meetings or other listening events. Activities like these must be consistent, genuine, and apparent in order to leverage the desired horizontal communication between communities and journalists. In brief, we can all sing the joyous, unifying lyrics of Kumbaya when trust and visibility is established between communities and journalists.
