{"id":448,"date":"2023-08-25T07:05:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T14:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/?p=448"},"modified":"2023-08-25T07:16:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T14:16:30","slug":"does-journalism-for-all-include-conservatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/2023\/08\/25\/does-journalism-for-all-include-conservatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Does \u2018journalism for all\u2019 include conservatives?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Session Host(s): <\/strong>Allison Shirk and Joy Mayer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Session Reporter <\/strong>(if not the host):<\/strong> Lauren Pabst<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussion<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Introductions and \u201cWhat brings you to this session?\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ideas include: rural and conservative areas also include communities of color; finding \u201cthe middle\u201d is key for developing news audiences; getting a lot of pushback to coverage from conservative readers; developing voter guides that will be trusted; at the local level, issues don\u2019t always revert to partisan siloes; opportunities to think outside of liberal\/conservative frame (liberalism has done harm, too) and think about issues more realistically and complicate narratives; what can bring people together; Room to grow and listen; delivering relevant news to readers from a legacy newsroom; learning how conservatives develop their worldviews; pushback against pandering to conservatives \u201cboth sides-ism\u201d from media organizations; reaching non-Trump conservatives; making sure a paper feels accessible to all \u2013 even though it has been pigeonholed as a \u201cliberal\u201d paper; reaching people beyond labels; bridging trust gaps; this conversation is missing from other national conferences; inclusion and practice change; intellectual humility needed in newsrooms; who feels \u201cseen\u201d and understood in news coverage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caveats to the organizing statement\/complicating factors:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Political, philosophical, or social conservatives?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Does a liberal-leaning journalist automatically do liberal-leaning stories? Newsroom culture<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • False both sides-ism \u2013 mis- and disinformation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Stereotypical interviewing of conservatives in diners<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The press calls extremists conservatives when they\u2019re not \u2013 and ignores fiscal and social conservatives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Conservative vs. Liberal has become very politicized since 2016 \u2013 many people hold complex personal views that do not fit neatly into one or the other but they are being lumped into a binary. People agree on local issues, but the national political frame dominates and takes the air out of the room when people identify as one or the other. Fraught terms with a lot of baggage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fox News and MSNBC have been part of creating this split \u2013 bias, viciousness, anger, hostility, distrust comes from both sides. The news is where the polarization happens and influences peoples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    People from all political affiliation are losing trust in the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is a newsroom\u2019s responsibility?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Some journalism pieces seem designed to make the \u201cother side\u201d angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Cities governed by liberal democrats can be hostile towards Black people, marginalized communities. It appears that confusion benefits people in power \u2013 the historical sides of \u201cconservatives\u201d and \u201cliberal\u201d have changed. Reporting doesn\u2019t have historical grounding and biases can be apparent. Example: affordable housing conversations. Media perpetuates and creates political narratives and is run by powerful interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    National politics muddies the water \u2013 local is more complex. AND the national talking points and strategies (anti-trans, anti-\u201cCRT\u201d) are also making their way into local policies. So, not as clear of a separation between national and local.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to gain trust of conservatives, so they will agree to be interviewed, so that they can be reflected in the coverage<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How we see the world as an individual colors what we see as relevant, important, etc. What we choose to shine a light on. Example: a series on mental health not including anything on faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Worldviews that aren\u2019t part of partisan politics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to create a space where everyone feels comfortable? Is it possible?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    How do you create a space where everyone feels uncomfortable? Even progressives (who have a problematic history that they don\u2019t own up to)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What angers people about reporting is that it makes them question their framing of an issue. Example: Reporting on a community foundation\u2019s available budget for participatory grantmaking VS its total endowment and comparison with city budget angered people because they thought it wasn\u2019t relevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We allow ourselves the luxury of dehumanizing people \u2013 not allowing ourselves the habit of doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Critiquing journalism is also important. Coded language aimed at liberal audiences loses people. Clarity and transparency about language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rather than talking about \u201ccoverage of conservatives\u201d talking about coverage of each issue to understand whether reporters have multiple perspectives about it. (Usually, no) Nuance and complexity needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Being precise about language and how others interpret terms differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Historical context is usually missing. People don\u2019t develop their own opinions, often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Right wing politicians have found it effective to mobilize people against the media \u2013 what to do with this?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Newspaper publishers who get pushback against readers who don\u2019t agree that the 2020 election wasn\u2019t stolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you lose these readers, they will go into the right-wing media ecosystem. What then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some people believe the election was stolen; some people don\u2019t have good information. Approach: providing explanations instead of using short hand (like \u201cTrump\u2019s false election claims\u201d \u2013 actually explain, provide the receipts)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Important to look at terminology and how it lands with audiences (using \u201cpregnant person\u201d or \u201cbirthing person\u201d made people angry). Switched to \u201cpatient\u201d or \u201cparent.\u201d Are there any surveys or studies around lightning rod terms?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Generally, explaining more is better. Whose language are we adopting? Always subjective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Offensive headlines about conservatives happen too, often from national media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is the practice of engaging rural audiences?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    At events, not responding right away to people who make disruptive remarks \u2013 engage them outside of that comment (who were you before the election?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This work is one-on-one \u2013 it feels overwhelming. Can it be scaled?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Field canvassers surveying populations (Borderless Field Canvasser\u2019s Guide Playbook)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hate speech is rampant on social media \u2013 when reporting on immigrant communities. Makes you not want to reach those people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Closer connections between reporters at differently oriented media organizations to find more common ground, share approaches, and reach conservative audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Do people actually know conservatives? Creating exchanges across different communities (Flatwater Free Press, Nebraska example)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Major effort needed to do better engagement with communities of color because they have been misrepresented and disengaged \u2013 many newsrooms are on board to find out how to do this. Many of those same ideas and techniques can be used in any community in the nation. Rural communities also feel this sense of misrepresentation from media. Must overcome the trepidation of dealing with difference. A playbook for engaging one community could be used in other communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    David Plazas (opinion reporter) does focus groups. Can share perspectives that reporters hear with one another (even though you can\u2019t talk to everyone).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some newsroom assignments tokenize people \u201cgo talk to a Latino about this.\u201d Understand that people don\u2019t automatically have expertise about elections just because they have one political persuasion (for example).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Marginalized peoples\u2019 feelings about social changes that might change material opportunities for them \u2013 these are complex and might not have language to express it. But this colors their perspectives \u2013 everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Anand Giradharadas, THE PERSUADERS (book) \u2013 making room for the people who are not yet on board and not excluding them in the way coverage is crafted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Newsrooms using language that is adopted by a small fraction of the population can lose people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Jonathan Hayt (?), THE RIGHTEOUS MIND (book) \u2013 there are a lot of complex explanations for why people believe what they believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Focusing on what people do have experience (expertise) with \u2013 outside of political coverage \u2013 might lend itself to more people seeing themselves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A lot of news coverage probably does appeal to conservatives, but reporters don\u2019t hear about it, or have a way of knowing about it. (farming stories, e.g.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A tool: flipping a frame \u201cif I said this same statement about X people, would it be a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How can we just tell the truth?<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A conversation on how to improve the journalism practice and engagement with conservative audiences and communities, especially at the local level. The recognition that conservative and liberal labels are politicized, oversimplified, and often misleading, and that people have different and nuanced views on various issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-admin","category-session-notes","tag-ee3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalismthatmatters.org\/engagingemergence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}