What one newsroom learned by asking about the needs of immigrant communities
Many journalists are working to provide better coverage of communities that have been historically ignored or underrepresented by news media. That’s so important — and there’s a key step we too often see journalists skip over in their pursuit of building and reaching new audiences: taking the time to listen.
How can we effectively serve communities without first hearing and understanding the needs of those community members? Without knowing what kind of things they feel are missing in the news? Or understanding where people are finding and consuming news?
Our team is really inspired by how Documented, a news nonprofit that covers immigrant communities in New York City, recently invested in community listening. As the newsroom planned to launch new verticals covering two of the largest immigrant populations in the city — the Chinese and Caribbean communities — the organization first took the time to listen to these communities to understand their perceptions of the news and what kind of coverage they were looking for
Over the span of five months, the organization had two community correspondents, April Xu and Ralph Thomassaint Joseph, do audience research that involved working with more than 50 other organizations, going to dozens of community events and interviewing more than 1,100 New Yorkers. The Documented team heard a lot of valuable takeaways, many of which echo what our team has learned doing similarly targeted outreach and listening efforts.
Related: Documented was one of 27 newsrooms that participated in Trusting News research to understand how journalists can connect with conservative and right-leaning audiences.
“In an increasingly uncertain world rife with misinformation and information gaps, it is imperative for newsrooms to listen and learn from their audiences to adapt and thrive.” — Max Siegelbaum and Mazin Sidahmed, Co-Executive Directors, Documented
This newsletter highlights some of the key findings from their research and shares some Trusting News suggestions of what journalists can do in response.
A quick note: We know that many local news organizations won’t be able to replicate a large-scale research project like this one, and that’s OK. There are other less formal, in-depth ways journalists can still meaningfully invest in listening, which we share toward the end of this newsletter!
Be consistent, present and fair
The Documented team heard across communities that respondents wanted to see media coverage that was more reflective of their lives and communities, as well as coverage that was objective and fair. For example:
- More than three-quarters of Chinese respondents said they don’t see themselves well represented in the news.
- When asked about Chinese-language media, participants mentioned the main pain points as objectivity, stories being dropped after one article is published and the lack of interaction between the media and the audience.
- The preliminary report showed that Caribbeans lack trust in the media because they don’t see themselves represented, and the coverage is often about negative issues in their communities.
- Similarly, around 20% of Caribbean respondents said they felt news about immigrant communities was often racist and wasn’t telling their stories enough.
These are similar findings to what we heard from our partner journalists — people notice when news or journalists’ motives feel extractive.
One way journalists can mitigate this is by showing up consistently and not just parachuting into communities when they need a quick quote or when there’s a big breaking news story. In our research, community members reflected that they wanted journalists to be more present — to show up on a regular basis, to attend community events as a participant (not to sell subscriptions or get quotes), and to overall make an effort to build sustained relationships.
Don’t just write about negative news
Documented reporters heard a similar response from each community they surveyed — people wanted less negative news. Specifically:
- Almost one-third of Caribbean respondents said that they would improve the current media coverage by adding more “positive news” and more than half said that the current media coverage is “too negative”.
- One respondent also added that negative news “furthers the gentrification and displacement agenda.”
We heard similar feedback during our research doing community outreach efforts — that community members wanted to see more representative, positive and joyful stories about their communities. The community members told us the reason they felt they weren’t seeing that news was because journalists hadn’t spent time getting to know the community in a real way.
Interesting to note: With our partner journalists, community members emphasized that positive news didn’t mean only representing their community in a positive light. It was more about making the coverage feel balanced, contextual and representative of the communities.
To help with this balance, journalists could do a better job asking people what things they think journalists are missing in their community. What problems do they wish the community were addressing? What programs or people deserve more attention?
Meet audiences where they are
A large part of Documented’s surveying was to learn more about these communities’ habits around news consumption — what platforms they use, what sources they turn to for news, how they prefer to consume news, and what kind of news they want.
They found:
- Around 60% of Chinese respondents said they didn’t consume news in English, mainly because of language barriers.
- Caribbean respondents said they consumed their news in multiple languages.
- Both Chinese and Caribbean respondents used a variety of non-traditional news platforms — like WhatsApp and WeChat — to access news.
- Both communities said they wished they had more access to information about community or organizational resources, especially as they first arrived in the U.S.
Understanding how the people we aim to serve get their information can help you both in the development of new products and also in thinking through smart distribution of your work. How can you as a journalist help mitigate any technical, financial or language barriers to accessing the news?
The key is listening
The biggest takeaway: always start with listening. There are many valuable insights the Documented team learned from doing this that are shaping the foundation for their new products: Like what coverage they should prioritize, platforms they should be present on, and how they could make their news more reflective.
Nicolás Ríos, Documented’s audience and community director, said the results from this research helped shed light on the need for actionable information for these communities.
“We are already working to provide that service in the shape of ‘Guides of Resources’,” Ríos said. “They will be the kickstart of what we call ‘verticals’, each one working with an engagement tool that will let us make investigations from their insights, distribute content and pick up the evolving needs of the audiences that we set to serve.”
Want to do similar work, but aren’t sure where to start?
We have a step-by-step community interview guide that walks journalists through how to have these types of conversations.
Even if you can only commit to having a few of these conversations each month, that can still create a lot of impact over time. Plus, we know from research that journalists simply taking the time to listen to people helps people feel valued and cared for, and in turn, they are more likely to trust and support you and your news organization.
Want to go in-depth? Dive into these resources.
- What a local newsroom learned about trust after doing a community survey (and how you can replicate a similar survey.)
- What we learned (alongside partners journalists) about how to reach diverse audiences
- Listen to advice from journalists on what they learned doing consistent outreach in targeted communities
- Case study: How listening transformed this Charolette newsroom
If you need help, feel free to reach out to our Trusting News team. You can email us at info@trustingnews.org or reach out on Twitter.
At Trusting News, we learn how people decide what news to trust and turn that knowledge into actionable strategies for journalists. We train and empower journalists to take responsibility for demonstrating credibility and actively earning trust through transparency and engagement. We’re co-hosted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Press Institute. Subscribe to our Trust Tips newsletter. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Read more about our work at TrustingNews.org.
