Grand rising*, Reader!
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I hope you’re doing well and I’m sorry for the delay in sending this newsletter. Maybe you didn’t notice because you were enjoying your holiday, but I personally was very aware of not sending it for a month. Without letting you know! It won’t happen again.

It started with taking a break of one week, one became two, two became three and suddenly a month is gone. Do you recognize the pattern? And it says a lot about the current situation I find myself in:

• Relocating temporarily to The Netherlands and preparing for it;
• Giving priority to paid assignments that pay the bills;
• Letting the pandemic blues take over and feeling a bit down.

And now here I am behind my desk in my house in Mas, Bali, the last evening in this place before my travels start. I just finished an interview with a young journalist in the US who wanted to speak to me about inclusive journalism for one of her undergrad assignments. I could hear myself talk a lot without saying much. It was difficult even to explain what I exactly mean with inclusive journalism and what my future plan is for this initiative.
Fragments of the online call are slowly coming back to me and the overall feeling of not being in the right place for an interview like this at the moment. ​
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​*) My friend Raan Oosha uses "Grand rising", so I stole it from him. It emphasizes that something big is at play.

Breaking my own personal barriers

I’m sharing this because this is also what inclusion is about and what I don’t talk about often. The struggle of delivering a weekly newsletter when the focus and attention isn’t there and the challenge of talking to people when I’m not feeling well. Too often I ignore those signals and I don’t pay enough attention to what is best for me. Although I gave myself a break from the newsletter, it didn’t feel good to not send it for so many weeks. The discrepancy between what I want and what I do is real.
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The recent weeks have taught me that it’s time to break through barriers in order to make the next move. Flying back to The Netherlands is part of that. I left my homeland with the idea of enjoying a sabbatical for one year. And now two and a half years later, it’s time to go back and arrange my life in a way that suits my new remote working lifestyle. The fact that one of my best friends is diagnosed with cancer made the decision to finally book the flight a whole lot easier.
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I was postponing the trip since late last year, justifying to myself that the time wasn’t right yet to leave Bali. Unconsciously I started to procrastinate in my work as well for the last few weeks, losing the motivation to write about inclusive journalism. The only thing I kept doing was publishing on my Instagram account, an easy win and at the same time a huge distractor.

Well, I'm talking about my struggles where I should actually share interesting content with you. And while I’m writing this sentence I think about deleting the whole text and not sending the newsletter this week. But that’s not what I’m going to do. Because breaking the barriers has everything to do with breaking my own personal barrier of accepting that this is the reality at the moment. And being honest about that. I won’t write about my personal stress weekly, but today it felt necessary in order to get the newsletter out there again.
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Why I use the term 'inclusion'

The good thing about the conversation with the young journalist tonight was the fact that I summarized my career so far and the steps I’ve taken to come where I am now. When I hear myself explaining to someone else why I do what I do, it becomes more clear for myself again too.
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I suddenly remembered why the term ‘inclusion’ is important to me. Some people criticise the word because with inclusion you assume that the existing system is good enough to continue, you just need to make it more inclusive. Whereas the critics don’t believe in the system at all anymore.
My position though is the white woman point of view and that’s a powerful place within the existing reality. And although I trust that initiatives from outside of the current system are very influential, I personally focus on Western journalists to create an inclusive mindset. If nothing is changing from within the status quo, the peripheral actions won’t lead to real change. And the present state is dominated by the Western (mostly white) narrative, so that’s the main focus.

The media reporting about Afghanistan displays all the elements I’m talking about.

• Western media have blindly followed the United States ‘War On Terror’ story since 9/11;
• There hardly is a debate within journalism about the fact that mistakes have been made, the self-regulatory potential isn’t shared widely or with the audience;
• Without self-reflection on how the media report on Afghanistan and other conflicts in the world, the attention will go to short term success of parachute journalism with long term negative consequences for the trust in fair reporting. A journalist who flies in and out of a country will bring an emotionally compelling story, but also feeds the sensationalism and biased storytelling.

In Vipassana mediation this loop of constant reaction is called the cycle of suffering and can only be broken by self-awareness.
The amount of Afghan journalists and experts to highlight a different angle doesn’t change anything as long as the ruling group of journalists won’t change their way of working.
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I won’t dive too deep into Afghanistan, I’m not an expert. The reason why I’m sharing this is to let you know that I’m not always sure either of what is the right thing to do. But to question myself and to share my vulnerability brings me at least towards more transparency and honesty.

I’m now ready for take-off, for starting the next level of inclusive journalism, where I will reveal more of my personal journey in this context. Visiting The Netherlands is part of that quest. I'll be staying in the northern part of the country for a while, in Friesland, the region I grew up in and where I’m going to explore more of my own roots. I’m going to put the spotlight on developing the training for journalists about inclusion and writing a book about how I got where I am now (working title: “I wasn’t born woke”). And of course, I will keep you updated in this newsletter. Together with the usual content about inclusive journalism.

-Sanne

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Journal prompt

What are some of the barriers you became aware of in recent weeks/months? Do you allow yourself to think about possibilities to break through them? What would you need to do so? And when was the last time you found yourself in a position of “take-off”, ready to start something new? What was the feeling that came with that moment?

What am I reading or watching?

• I’ve been watching quite a lot of Netflix lately. The American documentary The Family is one of the series that blew my mind. Based on the books of Jeff Sharlett about a mysterious conservative Christian group known as the Family who has strong influence in US politics, in pursuit of its global ambitions. It proves to me that conspiracy theories don’t exist out of nowhere. An existing elite that rules the world isn’t something to laugh about, it’s reality and it has been for decades. I will write more about The Family soon. I would love to hear your view.

What can you do?

• Try to be mindful of what you’re consuming daily. Especially about he thoughts that fuel your mind. Regarding Afghanistan for example, make sure you read and watch the sources that work in the region or know the region very well. Don’t just scan the headlines, but take some time for the long reads and background information or analysis. And try to pierce through the superficial, emotional reporting.
• Allow yourself to be vulnerable.

See you soon!