change the world
Hello friend, thanks for opening! In this letter, we're talking about community pantries, journalism, and that magical space where you think you could change the world. Hope you find something useful here. -K
When was the last time you believed you still could change the world?
I ask directly because I think at some point, everybody spends some time in that magical space. It's similar to that drunken point where you're so drunk you think you're invincible, incredibly wealthy, and/or a good singer. What a good space, right? It reminds me of four a.m. at the neighborhood videoke joint, and all your friends are already there after putting the newspaper to bed at midnight, and you're trying valiantly to divide the tab equally over about a dozen people with your dying phone as your calculator and you've obviously had a lot to drink because you'd just finished singing to Timmy Cruz. Tapos magsusukli ka pa kasi puro limandaan, tapos last song na. And you still have half a bottle left on the table na kailangan inumin kasi sayang naman.
Yeah, that pretty much sums up the last time I felt like I could change the world. Which is decidedly such a long time ago, considering it's been so long since I left the paper, in the first place. I don't think we're going back to videoke joints anytime soon, thanks to Covid. And I don't think I'm about to start believing again about my capability to change the world.
I've been thinking about this all week, especially with the community pantries opening across the country--a direct response to the government's inability to help the poor and the hungry. Citizens are once again/yet again taking it upon themselves to help their respective communities--take what you need, give what you can. Tayo-tayo na lang talaga 'to.
Of course, these initiatives have been greeted with much malignment from the government (as expected), red-tagged left and right (oops), because apparently kindness is tied to just one ideology, according to the gospel from the military (even worse than the gospel of homophobic churches, can you believe)
As such, the community pantries were inevitably thrust into the spotlight, its initiators interrogated about their alleged Communist links--a controversial question that has been discussed and debated for days in my feed, by friends across industries. (I joined my first few Twitter Spaces because of this issue, and it was all rather enjoyable!)
Anyway, just some points I gathered from conversations with friends, combined with some thoughts of my own:
- Asking questions is an integral part of a journalist's job, so it is important to ask the right questions. Asking questions = art form. Moreover, asking the right questions requires background. Research support is important, hence must be provided by newsrooms. Also important to consider limitations of time, location, etc. Empathy is informed by context.
- In the age of social media, journalists must be open to feedback from readers + non-media people. Some media friends have raised the issue of determining which feedback is valid and worth considering, and I agree. Not everyone has the bandwidth to properly parse a deluge of feedback, and in the interest of time, there must be a way to ferret out valid feedback, and this takes a lot of brainspace. I also think there is already a long-standing tradition of integrating reader feedback into newsrooms--for years, the Research Department has been the steward of the Corrections Box, and the Opinion pages have been hosting Letters to the Editors, etc. In the age of social media, feedback can be sent directly to journalists, and like most swords, they are double-edged. I just wish that the system that required journalists to interact directly with readers on social media (instead of the institution engaging the readers more holistically as an INSTITUTION) did more to support them, as some feedback really require a whole-of-org kind of approach. Imagine if Desks actually managed to address feedback about multi-beat stories or headlines. Apart from Philstar, obvsly. ;)
- Snark distracts instead of illuminates, and emojis are ill-suited for nuance. Mostly reminder to self, hehe.
Anyway, I have a feeling we haven't heard the last from that conversation about the media. It's an important continuing conversation to have, especially as we approach election season, but I have to mention that the current administration began their approach to power with a concerted effort to drive a wedge between media and the people. Yun lang naman.
Anyway, if there's something I have retained from those years I spent in the paper, it's probably my dose of skepticism. I think it's healthy to keep a level of it, to always be asking questions about what we consume, and perhaps to be wary even of the things we agree with as well. Minsan, we just interrogate what we disagree with; I have to remind myself every now and then to also examine materials even if they reinforce my beliefs: Where did this come from? Is this real or just a product of the algorithm? Hard but necessary questions.
Recs from around the internet
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How to fix journalism? Send trauma informed entry-level reporters to cover death, loss, grief. That's it, that's the tweet.
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Stop putting the burden of fixing burnout on the shoulders of individuals. It's not about them, it's about the workplace. via HBR.
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I wish people let other people be proud of the good they do. Instead of, you know, just letting people like those in the gov't lower the bar and reward themselves for it.
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Speaking of good people: There's a children's book about the life of the Vice President. I encourage you to buy it and pass it on to a younger person. I want to believe that as long as there are younger people, the world will never run out of dreamers who think they can change the world.
Anyway. What do you think about changing the world? Let me know how I can support you :)
Thank you as always for making it this far.
XO,
K
PS. Something that made me smile this week: This version of Maggie Rogers' Love you for a long time for NatGeo Earth Day Eve.