Happy Valentine everyone,

(Although the people in Myanmar face an uncertain Valentine’s night. Hopefully everyone will stay safe.)

Welcome to new subscribers of newsletter #6, Geertje and Megan, thanks for joining!

The mission of Inclusive Journalism is to change the conversation around media diversity by highlighting voices outside of The West, analyzing global media and giving concrete tips on what you can do today to make a change.
I'm Sanne, you can read more about me here.

If you like what you read, please forward it to your friends for them to

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Email from a subscriber

I got an email last week from one of the subscribers who shared an ethical dilemma in her newsroom in Kenia with me. Should they report on two fighting politicians? The journalist wrote:
​“My worry is such content being aired could easily insight supporters of different political views into violence”. ​
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These are the daily decisions journalists have to make, this is the real work. And I think it’s great that this journalist reflects on her own thoughts and shares it with me to figure what is best to do.

Keep sending your dilemmas, questions, tips & tricks by replying to this email. ​
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Inclusion is not rocket science, you don’t need a college degree to understand what needs to be done. But to actually do it is the hard part. Daily reflection, daily repeating, daily discussion. It asks for a change in behavior and everybody wants change but nobody wants to change.

The art of a sincere apology

Sometimes the path to change is blocked and what is needed to open up the road is a sincere apology. The president of Ireland (Michael D Higgins) wrote an insightful opinion piece about the colonial past of the UK and mentioned the Irish term ‘Machnamh', meaning reflection, contemplation, meditation and thought. It will help to

'recognize the reverberations of that past for our societies today and for our relationships with each other and our neighbors'.

Higgins writes about the importance of

'acknowledging that different, informed perspectives on the same events can and do exist'.

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His article critiques journalists for not having enough knowledge about the dark side of history.
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And should The West apologize for the situation in Myanmar? According to Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. of the Philippines The West destroyed Aung San Suu Kyi's reputation and therefore created space for the military to get her out of the way. (video)
Locsin himself is controversial in some aspects and I'm not even saying he speaks the truth, but it's definitely healthy to watch his speech and reflect on his words. There is some truth in it, if you're looking at the colonial past and the influence of British imperialism on the situation today. Consuming opinions that aren't necessarily yours are important to broaden your perspective. It makes you pause for thought.

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What can you do?

Inclusive Journalism is about pausing and reflection but from there it's important to take action. Every week I give you tips on what you can do to change something towards inclusion.

• Don’t forget Myanmar and don’t think you can’t do anything. You can support independent media in the country by donating. This interview with editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now, Swe Win, shows how difficult it has become to keep reporting from Myanmar. Frontier Myanmar is another platform that does excellent work.
• Reflection brings us to the root of our societies, our Indigenous cultures. Karl Moore and Wáhiakatste Diome-Deer have written a great article about what the Indigenous world has to offer in terms of teaching. A quote from the article:

'We need to reimagine and start to build our collective future with respect and reverence for the Indigenous world, rather than merely replicating the values of a dominant Western society all over again.'

• And last but not least: the second Instagram Live is scheduled for this Friday 19th of February with mental wellbeing journalist Tanmoy Goswami. Please join at 7pm SGP time, +7 GMT.

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That's it for this week!
Tips, feedback, questions, the reply-button of this email is all yours! I'd love to hear from you. Have a great week and talk soon again.