What I mean by detoxifying journalism
“Empowering journalists. Detoxifying journalism.”
I was so nervous about that second part of my new tagline that I took it to therapy.
Was I coming on too strong? What if I offended the very people I’m looking to support? Does journalism know it can be . . . toxic?
Listen, y’all, not all journalism, not all newsrooms, not that I’m talking about you. Probably.
So what do I mean when I say, “detoxifying journalism”?
I mean disrupting the parts of the industry that denies journalists’ humanity, that cares more about stories than the people who produce them.
When I say detoxifying, I mean:
No. More. Yelling. I’m a peaceful person, but if one more coaching client tells me their boss yells at them, I’mma throw hands. If you can’t communicate to your staff at the volume you’d talk to your Momma, stop talking and please, go calm down.
No more gaslighting.
An end to corrosive competition.
I mean:
Telling the truth to employees the way we expect them to in their stories.
As leaders, listening more and talking less.
Not using the news as an excuse to treat people as if they don’t matter.
I’ve worked in newsrooms big and small, in person and online, as a reporter and as The Boss. I’d love to tell you I found all of those experiences nurturing and respectful, but, welp, not for nothing is my magazine called Rebellious.
Journalism is my first love, and I want it to do better. I want it to treat the people I love better. I want people who choose to leave to do so with their heads high and their hearts full, not beat down and more than a little bitter.
I can’t change journalism, but I can support the people who do it. I put “empowering journalists” first in my tagline because that’s where I’m starting. As a recovering journalist, as a coach, I believe that every journalists’ most important story is their own.
