Thinking like a journalist. Easier said than done.
As detailed in Kelsey Samuels’ Ted Talk “Think like a journalist“, too often we use media to reinforce our biases instead of shaping our opinions based on the information in front of us. We have to engage in meaningful self-reflection to really understand our privileges and recognize where our bias lies.
How much thought do you put into the news you share? Sometimes we tend to cherry-pick our news. What we read reinforces what we believe and we create a false narrative for ourselves.
This is why Samuels really places emphasis on diversifying your news. Getting multiple perspectives is the responsible thing to do, but it’s not always the easiest.
No one knows this as well as late journalist Ruben Salazar. Growing up in a conservative family as a Mexican- American individual, Salazar assimilated really well into the Anglo lifestyle. No doubt his conservative upbringing provided him with prejudice that affected the way he covered stories.
In the documentary, Man in the Middle, we get to see Salazar’s development as a journalist. His colleagues continuously describe him as a middle man.
“He was neither a pimp for the revolution nor a shill to the establishment,” said Bill Drummond, a former Times reporter.
But no matter how objective a journalist wishes to be, objectivity is based on our lived experiences.
For example, if an incident goes down with a civilian and a police officer, a journalist will ask questions and unravel the narrative based on their lived experiences. If this journalist grew up understanding police to be public figures worthy of respect, they’ll be asking a set of questions and telling a narrative that potentially reflects this. Juxtapose a journalist with bad experiences with the police, they might be more inclined to ask different questions that lead to significantly different information. The narrative goes from unruly civilian to prejudiced cop.
Both are right, but they’re right because of the experiences they’ve had.
Objectivity is something I have thought long and hard about because it’s never black and white.
Especially in journalism. We tell stories of human existence in journalism and the human experience is anything but objective.
When we tell stories in journalism we try so hard to be unbiased, but this gets increasingly difficult especially in the face of so many social issues that are tied to our identities.
In many ways, Ruben Salazar was removed from Chicano struggles. He was respected in his profession and assimilated fairly well to the Anglo lifestyle. He told stories about what happened during the Chicano Movement as well as he could. His bold demeanor and his willingness to call out corruption quickly made him a threat to the Los Angeles PD.
But an interesting point was brought up in the documentary at around 20:51. The narrator says that people outside the system (marginalized folks) were desperadoes and this conditioned their discourse.
Of course, not Ruben Salazar. He was a middle man.
But the more I think about it, the more I realize that it’s nearly impossible for me to remove my identity from my reporting. I’ve seen several marginalized folks who write for publications get called emotional and their work isn’t taken as seriously because of this.
Objectivity, especially when talking about BIPOC struggles, does not dig into the root of oppression.
Unfortunately, or fortunately it really depends on what side you’re on, the experiences of marginalized journalists affect the ways in which we cover stories.
If this makes us pimps for the revolution, then so be it.
lupita rivera 
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