Happy Thursday Reader!

Quite a lot of new subscribers this week, that makes me so happy! Welcome to newcomers Stania, Eva, Jessica, Leontien, Ankita, Julia, Aaron, Elisa, Johanna, Laura and Maik. Good to have your here.

If you like what you read, please forward it to your colleagues, friends or family members or share the newsletter on your social media. This helps me a lot!

Every Monday I join the writers group here in Ubud, Bali, to connect with fellow writers and share creative writing prompts. A few group members subscribed to this newsletter and they told me how fascinating it was for them to read about ‘parachute journalism’ because they’d never heard of the concept before (previous newsletter). I’m happy to realize that the content I’m sharing here isn’t just interesting for journalists.
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Journalism is a liberal profession, meaning everyone can call themselves a journalist. But better journalism doesn’t only come from the people who execute the work. It should also come from an audience of news consumers who learn how to recognize good quality journalism.
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I compare it often with yoga. In 2012 William Broad published the book “The science of yoga: the risks and rewards” and an article in The New York Times with the title "How yoga can wreck your body". It caused a stir in the yoga community because Broad stated that the practice of yoga can be dangerous in some regards. I remember the biggest lesson I learned from the debates that followed in the yoga community was that if you go to a yoga class you need to do some research about the teacher. Where did she/he study? How many years of practice does she/he have? Etc.
Instead of creating a system of rules and regulations it can be just as helpful to inform the audience about how to recognize quality.
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This is where media literacy for the general public can play a key role in antiracism, together with more education about inclusive journalism in journalism schools and studies.

Follow up on "Parachute journalism"

In that respect I had a great afternoon today where I was invited by prof.dr. Katja Schupp of the university of Mainz in Germany and journalist Annie Zaman to join an online class about journalism from a global perspective. We discussed with the students the topic of CNN in Myanmar and parachute journalism. I was amazed by the sharp analyses of the students and it gives me a lot of hope that these youngsters will bring much more awareness about the culture of whiteness and systemic racism to the field of media in the future.
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It’s worth reading the latest contributions to the parachute journalism debate: a comprehensive article of the case by Burmese-American journalist Aye Min Thant for New Naratif. And an on point and nuanced contribution by Singaporean journalist Kirsten Han for Splice Media. Alan Soon and I were interviewed in a podcast for Media Buddhi which taught me that parachute journalism also happens within national borders. For example in India where journalists from the big cities parachute themselves to rural areas. And Unbiased the News organized an in-depth conversation where Filipino journalist Purple Romero spoke with Indian journalist Ankita Anand about the way of working of Western media in Asia and what can be done better.

Purple: "Have you ever been contacted by a big Western media organization and asked to collaborate?"
Ankita: "I've been contacted to be a fixer but I didn't want that."

Even though it’s great to see so many Asian journalists write and speak out about this issue, I love to see much more Western journalists take a clear position on this. The silence is unfortunately... white.

- Sanne

Blogs: Trust and the vaccine

Remember I wanted to write a daily blog? 🤓 I’m already four or five days behind. After a hectic week last week, the energy was gone during the weekend. Some of it had to do with the vaccine I got on Friday. The process went real quick and before I knew it the Chinese vaccine Sinovac was injected in my body. It still amazes me how I as a foreigner and guest on the island of Bali got my vaccine before my parents got it in my wealthy homeland of The Netherlands. If COVID-19 showed us one thing it’s the fact that the arrogance of The West is often misplaced. I’m sured the pandemic helps us to rethink current power (im)balances on our planet. The experience of getting my vaccine in the small village where I’m currently staying, made me write about the importance of trust in others, something that’s crucial in inclusion as well. And the idea of the Global North not being superior in handling the coronavirus outbreak inspired me to do some research on decolonizing journalism.

Journal prompt

Aye Min Thant mentioned in her view on the CNN in Myanmar case that she could feel empathy for the desire of foreign journalists to parachute into a country. Understanding and sharing feelings of people you don’t necessarily agree with is powerful. In the end of the day we’re all victims of a system of inequality. Instead of calling out individuals, we should jointly focus on building a better system.
​The question for this week’s prompt therefore is: when did you feel empathy for someone you disagreed with? Was it hard to acknowledge that?

What am I reading or watching?

• I’m so lucky that Ubud’s cinema Paradiso is still open and they play the best movies. Last week they showed several Oscar nominees, like Judas and the Black Messiah, Soul and Nomadland. I recommend them all and will probably write about them in the next newsletters.
• 📚 What books are you reading? I’d love to know! Just hit reply on this email. I’m currently diving into my own people’s history. I'm Frisian, an indigenous tribe coming from the area between the North of the Netherlands and the South of Scandinavia.

Rolemodels

What can you do?

• Professor of Black Studies Kehinde Andrews is one of my go-to sources for inclusive journalism. I mentioned him before in this space. He explains in this video “How to Decolonize your mind”.
• ​The Race report caused upheaval in the UK and Double Down News asked British journalist and activist Ash Sharkar to think of an alternative to the report. Her analysis is worth watching and gives hope for the future too.
• Are you dreaming of going on holiday already? Subscriber Monique shared a new Instagram account about decolonizing travel. Check out their first four posts and read the tips and tricks about responsible traveling.
• There is a lot we can do to educate ourselves, but everything really starts with feeling good about yourself and being able to empathize with others. So let’s give that some practice in the coming week and let me know how it went.

See you next week!