As we listened to the concerns and priorities of thousands of Ohioans last year in our exploration of Ohio’s addiction epidemic and economic revitalization efforts, we witnessed a clear community demand for a new kind of journalism. At Your Voice Ohio, we believe journalism should be fair and produced for the benefit of all. Without fully accounting for the range of lived experiences, we fail to adequately serve our communities. Acknowledging that news media has historically played a role in contributing to misrepresentations concerning race, and with persisting issues concerning lack of diversity within their newsrooms, Your Voice Ohio and our media partners are committed to addressing these inequities head on.
To begin this process, Your Voice Ohio is developing a two day workshop on April 19th-20th, with media professionals – both in mainstream and community news outlets – to draw on their own experiences and learn from voices from across the state that have traditionally been left out.
By creating an open dialogue about more inclusive journalism, we hope to provide context and guidelines that will inform reporting and language, and encourage more conversation and understanding between journalists and the many communities they cover, contributing to more inclusive newsrooms across the state of Ohio.
How You Can Get Involved
Community Members: In order to ensure that community voices are centered in the development of the project, we want to hear from you. We want to hear your honest thoughts about the current representation of racial communities in media, what is working well in the media, where the media is falling short, and the impact accurate narratives could have.
Take the survey here: tinyurl.com/inclusivejournalism
Sign up to participate in a listening session near you!
Journalists: will you help us spread the word about this effort? Here’s how:
- Sign up for the newsletter list to receive conference updates, including registration information, and ways to get involved directly to your inbox.
- Use our media kit to share what the conference is about.
What is a racial narrative?
Research shows how the overall presentation of historically marginalized groups is distorted by the media in a variety of ways, relative to real-world facts. This research has revealed patterns in media coverage including:
- Underrepresentation overall – Relative to their representation in the world, a racial group is underrepresented in the media narratives that shape how you perceive the world.
- Negative associations exaggerated – particularly criminality, unemployment, and poverty.
- Limited positive associations – Even when a racial group is portrayed positively, they are framed in a way that makes them sound like the exception, and/or are absent from other important archetypes in media narratives.
- The “problem frame” – A racial group is overly associated with intractable problems in media narratives that shape how you perceive the world.
- Missing story – Important dimensions of a racial group’s stories are largely untold in media narratives.
Why are accurate racial narratives important?
When newsrooms don’t cover their entire community, coverage suffers: stories are missing or inaccurate, contributing to harmful stereotypes instead of capturing importance perspectives and nuances.
Instead, journalists can build meaningful connections, writing stories with their communities.
How will the results from the crowdsourcing be shared?
Responses to the crowdsourcing form and text message engagement will be regularly shared with Your Voice Ohio members and, with permission, uploaded to the Your Voice Ohio website. Furthermore, a word cloud and summary of findings for each question will be presented and shared with all media partners in the months leading up to the conference.
How will the results from the listening sessions be shared?
Listening sessions were designed to inform the development of the workshop and greater initiative. Direct quotes will remain anonymous unless given explicit permission to share; our top priority is creating a welcoming environment where participants will feel comfortable sharing. Listening session notes and conversation will be consolidated into summaries that will be shared with participants and media professionals across the state.
Who’s supporting this project?
The conference steering committee includes:
- Dr. Felecia Ross Jones, Associate Professor at Ohio State University
- Raphael Davis-Williams, Director of Equity & Inclusion at the ACLU of Ohio
- Kelley Fox, Development Assistant at Equality Ohio
- Russell C. Neal, Akron City Council
- Veronica Isabel Dahlberg, Founder and Executive Director at HOLA Ohio
