Hi Reader,
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Thanks for opening my newsletter, I really appreciate the growing community of subscribers that you’re part of. From 11 people in January to almost 100 now. I counted while I created the archive on my website :)!

I mentioned it before: YOU are the reason why I write this newsletter. It’s true and it’s difficult at the same time. I like to share my thoughts, my view on journalism, my experiences but I ultimately want to understand how I can help you with what I know.

Community is key

The community around Splice Media is a community I’m part of in Asia. Journalists from all parts of that region (and beyond) are sharing insights about media entrepreneurship with each other in their Telegram group. Since I’m living and working in Asia this group of people has helped me through hard times. Alan and Rishad, the co-founders of Splice, have started School of Splice now, an audio based entrepreneurship initiative where you can learn to build a viable media business. While listening to the recordings where they emphasize the importance of creating solutions for your audience, I caught myself thinking:

There is systemic racism in this world and we wake up to that fact when something terrible like the killing of George Floyd gets filmed and is being shared globally, leading to worldwide protests. But once the headlines are taken over by other news, the systemic problems don’t reach the surface anymore in a way that we recognize the dormant racism.

I was even a bit shocked when some of my friends were discussing inclusivity regarding pronouns to reflect someone’s gender identity, a topic that's often in the news in The Netherlands. One friend said she didn’t understand why she was forced to add ‘she/her’ to her email signature at work while it was clear that she is a woman. And she continued saying she thought the whole gender issue was 'overrated' anyways. She asked with a loud voice:

I heard a common line of argument in her story, centering herself as a cis white woman, not aware of the fact that she happens to be the default in a world that is initially build for a diverse group of people. Blind spots are everywhere and that is the ‘problem’ with inclusivity: if you don’t see it (yet), it’s hard to change it. The upside is:

Has this newsletter given you new insights so far (since you’ve subscribed)? I’d love to get your feedback on that!

- Sanne

Let's reach the 100 subscribers and forward this newsletter to someone you know!

The problem is ... clear!

In the process of writing this newsletter I looked on my Twitter account and saw a picture in my timeline of Dutch politician of Surinam descent, Sylvana Simons. She is leader of Bij1, a new political party that has gotten a seat in the Dutch Lower Chamber in the elections of March this year. Today is Prinsjesdag in The Netherlands, the day on which

Besides the fact that it’s a political event, most of the attention goes to the outfits of the politicians and the King and Queen. Traditionally, everyone wears hats and tries to look their best. Dutch newspaper AD wrote an article with the headline "There they are: the hats!". Simons had chosen to wear a Surinam headscarf and below the picture of her in this article it said she chose the outfit “inspired by her Dutch Caribbean roots”. And that’s exactly what is wrong with inclusion in journalism nowadays. The first Black woman from Surinam and not Caribbean descent as a leader of a political party in Dutch parliament is being described with zero knowledge about where her roots lie. It’s the disinterest for her as a person combined with the disregard of Dutch colonial past in one sentence.

Sure, it might be an inexperienced intern who wrote the text, we shouldn’t be making a big thing out of just this one case. But it’s these small mistakes that are happening on a regular basis that show that the problem with inclusion isn’t solved overnight.

When applying the six characteristics of inclusive journalism, this particular example can be analyzed in the following way:

1. Long term commitment​
   When a newsroom develops a long term commitment towards the topic of inclusion, an example like the one mentioned above will be discussed in a weekly or monthly meeting about inclusivity. Implementing a regular gathering where the mistakes of a newsroom are being discussed in order to learn from, is part of a long term policy change.
   
2. Conscious of unconscious bias​
   This point has everything to do with the question: how could this happen? Does it mean that the reporter who wrote about the Caribbean instead of Surinam roots thinks that all Black women in The Netherlands most likely are descendants of the Dutch Caribbean? Is the particular headscarf reason to think that? Here it comes down to question your own assumptions: what made me think this?
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3. Community engagement ​
   The fact that the example above got a lot of critique has a lot to do with the reputation of this particular newspaper in writing about racism, colonialism and the politician Simons. The track record isn’t very good, so a mistake like this adds to an already existing bad reputation. This can be solved by reaching out to underrepresented communities actively and making sure that faults like this are being corrected by their own readers instead of going viral.
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4. Enlighten, not just inform​
   Journalism at its best should ‘lead humanity along a path toward better individual and collective life’ as Lee Siegel explains. When working with this attitude there will be more attention to seemingly details like the roots of a well known politician.
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5. Decoloniality
   ​Decoloniality is about a fundamental reconsideration of who is reporting, what the subject matter is and how it’s being brought on the news. Is the reporter who writes the texts about the politicians on this important day the right person for the job?
   And in a broader sense, decoloniality comes down to understanding the Dutch colonial past. Did the newsroom pay attention to the colonial past of The Netherlands?
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6. Holistic approach ​
   Being inclusive is a matter of journalistic practice and ethics. Are these being discussed regularly? Or maybe the person who made the mistake was overworked or suffering from exhaustion due to the tight deadlines handled in journalism. It’s not about denying the mistake, it’s about looking for root causes in how it went down like this.

I’m not advocating to always be the most virtuous, without making any slip-ups because we’re all human beings and mistakes happen. The point is that we forget that underlying systemic problems are often coming to the surface in things that we dismiss at first. And instead of feeling personally offended or accusing people for exaggeration, it’s more interesting to dive into the root causes and find a solution for the long term.

Journal prompt

What is your first response in reading about a seemingly small mistake I’m mentioning in today’s newsletter? What does that response tell you? Instead of immediately analyzing or rationalizing the issue, like we’re often used to, can you put yourself in someone else’s shoes? The shoes of the reporter, the shoes of politician Simons? Does it change anything in your initial reaction?

What am I reading, listening or watching?

• An article on CNN about how white privilege is likely to evolve in the future, received lots of criticism. “Nothing will change, though, unless we go after the racial hierarchy that makes Whiteness such an exclusive club”, the writer states. An interesting long read that opens the path to a next level in discussing this topic.
• Besides The School of Splice audio recordings I’ve also discovered Througline, the podcast series by NPR and I’ve been listening to episodes about capitalism. Recommended!
• The BBC Media show talks to several journalists about covering Afghanistan and dealing with the Taliban. Insightful, although I hoped to hear more criticism about the parachute reporting of Clarissa Ward.

What can you do?

• What is your biggest ‘problem’ regarding the topic of inclusion? Please let me know so I understand your struggle and I can write about it next time :). You can just hit the reply button in this email.
• If you've missed previous episodes of this newsletter and you're curious to read more, everything is now available online, in the newsletter archive.

See you next week!