Listening to Disarm: Creating two-way conversations between citizens and media

Jesse Hardman has been working in international media development since 2007. In his 2015 two-part series titled, Listening is a Revolutionary Act he describes his journey in media development from Chicago to Sri Lanka and back to the United States.

He began in Sri Lanka, recruiting and training a team of local reporters, after the civil war restarted to create a humanitarian newswire called Lifeline.

The numbers of the internally displaced were growing as well as their needs. The goal of Lifeline was to document the needs and experiences of the displaced and share highly relevant news with them, including where to find food, shelter and employment, as well as how to stay safe. Lifeline showcased a two-way conversation where reporters were able to get information from their target audience and give information back to them that reflected their needs.

It was back in the U.S. while completing a tour of trial radio stations that Hardman realized there was a need for this type of media development at home. As Hardman describes in his series, there are millions of Americans who lack access to basic resources, including information that could help improve their situations. Joe Orozco, station manager of KIDE in Northern California asked why Hardman was developing media in other parts of the world when communities in the US would benefit from similar work.

“A lot of people are connected, even arguably over-connected to information networks, but many communities are still left out of the conversation,” he said. According to census data, people that live in a household with an income of less than $20,000 do not have internet access at home. This staggering statistic coupled with mass consolidations of information outposts and the national cutting of newsroom staff has created media deserts.

While there is a need for communities to get basic information, many of them do have access to cell phones. This is where Hardman saw the need for new thinking about how to get basic information that communities needed in order to participate in society and headed to New Orleans.

In Part 2 of his series, Hardman describes creating the Listening Post in 2013. His goal was to take what he learned about community engagement in media abroad and apply it here.

One of the first struggles Hardman encountered was how to gain people’s attention enough to express their needs in today’s over-saturated media landscape and gave a step-by-step guide on how he created New Orleans’ Listening Post.

He said the first step was to listen — spread out in the community, go to events, walk through neighborhoods and see what kinds of conversations are going on. He encouraged people to learn as much as they can through observation. He then said the next step was to collect data from community members on their information sharing habits in order to get a sense of what people need to know and how best to reach them with that information.

The next five steps entailed the actual building of the listening post. Hardman found different community assets that would be frequented by community members to set up Listening Posts, he worked with local artists to create posts that were embedded in cardboard sculptures to attract attention but not intimidate citizens like a reporter might.

He also made sure to form questions that were inclusive and open-ended but also avoided rambling commentary, like “What was the last big health issue you or your family had?” Questions like these gave citizens the ability to reflect and form genuine answers on a specific topic rather than asking what they think about health care. He also posed questions through grassroots methods such as signs and billboards. This created the opportunity to get the thoughts and opinions of citizens that may not physically be near a Listening Post.

Hardman hopes his experiences through the Listening Post help inspire more two-way conversations between citizens and media creators. These conversations and developed networks can be used to get information about education, housing and employment among others. “People need information, and also want to be heard.”