Activist Journalism? Journalistic Activism?

08-19-07

AWC Features seems to walk a tricky line between advocacy and journalism, as, I suppose, does JHR. The agency has some writers on staff, who produce feature stories on women and children�s issues. There is a particular push currently to profile female political candidates, given the elections in December.

As part of the work to get more women into office, and more positive and powerful female voices in the media, the agency also trains candidates in communications� how to be your own spokes folks, I guess. It�s a curious idea to my western mind - that the same organization would be training reporters to ask good questions, while at the same time training �officials� how to get their message to the media. At first glance, it seems like one dealer arming opposing militaries.

JHR�s mission, however, seems a little more clearly advocacy-oriented. They send reporters into the developing world to help other reporters strengthen their journalism skills, with a particular emphasis on increasing coverage of human rights issues, or at least considering the human rights �dialogue� (I am trying to avoid NGO-speak, bear with me) somewhere in their reporting process.

I mean, I�m all for respecting human rights. And I�m all for a free, competent press. I�m even, less enthusiastically, in support of media literacy and communications training in general (this despite hours spent trying to get people to stop repeating their �core message� and start answering my questions).

I�m a little embarrassed to admit that there have been times when I�ve been relieved by some interviewees� idea that they have to answer my questions. It makes my job a little less conflictual, a little easier. But yes, media literacy is important. Understanding how and why media work is an important lesson for any citizen. How can you choose between Fox and PBS, if you don�t have a basic grounding in media literacy?

Next week Wilson and I are heading down to

Mombasa

to conduct a joint workshop for women candidates and local reporters. Now that I think of it, the j-school at Kings pitted Canadian Naval PR officers in training against junior journalists when I was at school. Maybe this really isn�t any different.

But I worry that, in the midst of all of this, it�s the reporters (from the developed or developing world) who may find themselves between a proverb and a metaphor. Do reporters need to consider the human rights dialogue in every story? Is it forced or awkward to push legal and diplomatic jargon into copy that is otherwise accessible? It is certainly the media�s role to educate and inform the public. It is not the media�s role to be the mouthpiece for any agency, no matter how seemingly benign or beneficial their message may be.

It�s kind of like the affirmative action debate. Is it OK to do address gross inequities with policies that are not inherently ethical, that a more equitable society might shun?

As for me, a reporter training reporters, I won�t tell any journalists that they must include human rights dialogue in their material. I will talk about human rights theory separately from reporting techniques� and hope that satisfies JHR and AWC.