Host:

Andrea Wenzel & Jingyao Yu

Participants: 

Amy L. Kovac-Ashley, Jingyao Yu, Letrell Crittenden, Tara Pixley, Luisa Ortiz Perez, (Eu)Gene “G-Gene” Sonn, Antoine Haywood, Kristin Traniello, Trip Jennings, Andrea Wenzel, Doron Tanssiy, Angilee Shah, Fabiola Sahagun, Sue Robinson, Jesikah Maria Ross, Dylan Smith, Sierra Sargetti-Daniels

Other session notes recommended (as they relate to accountability + care):

• Mental Health: Selfcare and Care Awareness – Anthony Victoria and Luisa Ortiz Perez
• Care aware newsrooms – Luisa Ortiz Perez

Summary

• What can we do in the daily as journalists to build space for regular accountability…and also what do we need to change in the structures of organization doing journalism to make space for accountability and dismantle the parts that prevent accountability?

Definition of Accountability

• Tara-Lyn: Recognition of impact over intent, understand harm and sit with the fact that intent didn’t match impact
• Amy: Bring it down to the small issues and the everyday, better prepared for big issues
• Kristin: Walking the talk not just talking the talk—action align with values
  • Being held accountable to moral structure of the community in which you sit
• Letrell: Responsibility we have
  • Whatever means consequences…not living up to expectations and responsibilities
• Doron: Consequences of action/impact…that there might be consequences for you
  • Letrell: People see that as a negative, doesn’t need to be that
• Luisa: Nonpunitive and reparation aspect of accountability. Wave of MeToo haven’t resolved that, but opened a lot of doors
  • How to reintegrate perpetrator, bring conversation to the newsroom and leave it there
  • Evolve standards of behavior
• Trip: Oscillating as punishment…finished a piece on restorative justice
  • Accountability as relationship
  • Universe of obligation…what do we owe each other
• Tara-Lyne: What does repair look like?—what are we restoring when we stay restorative justice?
  • While being accountable to the harm
• Andrea: Incentivize keep checking in and check-in back on that
  • Tara-Lyne: PArticular forms of offense…how do we balance that, recognize people are human, not absolving people of fault and responsibility, not taking weight of harm away while do reparative work while making space for people who can’t be repaired, how to keep balance
• Eugene: What do we build in daily work that facilitates accountability
  • Have been complaint based…who has been able to take advantage of complaint based?—those in power
  • How to build in reporting, to make space and time to look for accountability opportunities instead of waiting for it to find us

What Does the Work of Accountability Look Like

• Luisa: What it DOESN’T look like—the offenders doing the work of reparation.
  • Black and Brown people explaining why they’re offended
  • Opening the hate of DEI effort, onus on those offended to decide what reparations there are
  • Jingyao: Emotional and intellectual labor of those impacted by lack of accountability
• Angilee: Accountability is built in for me that I’m a part of, they’re at my dinner table, they’re at my business. When I did a story about South Asians, people knew how to reach me. At national level, that’s magnified
  • Accountability comes very much from community you work on
  • Keeping an open door, recognize that there will be failure
  • Re consequences and incentives, in industry, that kind of accountability isn’t quantified very well. In nonprofit side, the accountability is danger (funder) for you, when it should be incentive
  • When someone is upset, it’s dangerous the smaller the organization you are
  • Doron: What does that look like to rectify?
  • Angilee: Looks like bringing people in conversation, have 2 people have ear of major funder that may not approve
• Tara-Lyne: Different spaces of accountability
  • Newsroom accountability, where harm committed (DEI efforts)
  • Accountability to community, different structure
  • Accountability nonprofits to funders (where money coming from, impact the community, example taking money from private prisons)
  • How to think about all these things?
• Tara-Lyne: Emotional labor of education…not the job of the oppressed to educate, then whose job is it? Don’t trust oppressor to educate each other, but what does it mean to not put the responsibility
  • Invite them to a seat at the table and have people who can enact on that work
• Letrell: Journalism have no accountability infrastructure internally and externally.
  • Was let go in a previous role where vocally critiqued reporting
  • Editor of one newsroom sexually harassed, had a minor demotion for a couple of weeks