“Building power for more informed communities”
A reflection on the Engaged Journalism Accelerator’s most recent workshop from Social Spider’s Ffion Plant.
On 12th March 2019 I had the chance to represent Social Spider CIC at the Engaged Journalism Accelerator workshop, a day of collaboration with 47 journalists from across Europe, hosted in a UK city boasting more canals than Venice ... Birmingham!
Trivia aside, this piece is a short reflection of some of the key questions and topics highlighted during the day.
The day kicked off with an introductory speed-dating style exchange, where we shared examples of community action resultant of our work. We then listened to a flurry of ‘catalyst’ speakers talking all things from performance journalism to radical childcare. After this whirlwind introduction, we were ready to drill down and grapple with the theme of the day — how engaged journalism can be used in a way which builds power.
In a bid to maximise the relevance of discussions and to shift agenda curation into the hands of attendees, an ‘OpenSpace’ format was adopted. Attendees were invited to pitch eight discussion questions relating to the theme of the day, which then formed the basis of mini focus groups hosted by the question-masters. ‘OpenSpace’ is a technique for managing discussions which helps hosts avoid making assumptions about the group they’re facilitating. It is a technique which could be adapted and implemented by the organisations in attendance to help them lead better discussions with their readers.
The topics pitched focussed on the specific questions and practical challenges that the news outlets in attendance have found themselves confronted with. This was a welcome contrast from the broader, more (deliberately) ambiguous theme of the day.
Four discussions took place simultaneously; first off I chose to join the group discussing:
‘How do we fund/produce sustainable local media in and with low income communities’.
It is probably unsurprising that a funding related topic was pitched, as it is a core and increasingly difficult challenge for our sector. After recently introducing a membership scheme for our own newspapers (Waltham Forest Echo, Tottenham Community Press and Enfield Dispatch) this conversation resonated with us and our desire to explore new ways of involving readers in the production and financing of our newspapers.
After a quick chat establishing the kind of funding streams adopted by different organisations around the table; namely advertising, grant funding, membership subscriptions and one-off contributions, the discussion moved towards the moral associations around what we could, should and financially need to ask of our communities.
Guilt and the risk of losing trust were associated with asking low income communities to contribute financially.
In order to be more confident requesting financial support, our group discussed the importance of transparency and clear communication with our readers. In particular, being clear about the ethos of our publications and our model for producing and financing news. Sharing revenue information in the form of clear infographics was cited as a good way to clearly demonstrate to our communities how their contribution fits in a publication’s funding strategy more broadly.
To avoid the risk of community members becoming concerned their value is only measured in financial terms, our group discussed the necessity of allowing time to elapse between an initial display of engagement from a community member (e.g. a newsletter sign up) and requesting financial support.
Working out what community members may be interested in contributing beyond financial support (e.g. in terms of skills, expertise or content production) first was seen to be a useful way to build relations and highlight mutually beneficial opportunities. Our papers are currently in the process of developing a reader survey which would allow us to ascertain this kind of information so that we can productively build upon our relationship with our readers.
It was agreed that when we do ask our community to support us financially, we must demonstrate flexibility in how we work with them to do this (e.g. offering staggered payment options as well as options around how regular their payment is). In particular it was believed that having the option of one-off contributions in addition to a subscription offer would create more revenue overall. This is contrary to the perceived risk that having a one-off contribution offer would distract people from a subscription offer (generally seen as more valuable as regular, sustained income). Currently, our newspapers only have a regular membership payment offer, but after this workshop we are considering running a monitored trial of both options to test this hypothesis.
The next and final question i joined a discussion around was:
’How do we harness the potential of our community but avoid possible risks (inefficiency, hidden agendas)’.
The role of using WhatsApp (an app based communication platform) to keep community members updated on specific topics and as a way of facilitating an informal two way communication channel was discussed in this session.
Many attendees had used the platform for different purposes (fact checking, ‘broadcasting’ information) citing a generally positive experience with the app and good uptake and engagement. Whatsapp was perceived as beneficial since it is already a widely used platform. In particular, its common use by younger people was cited as a benefit for the organisations present, since younger people are generally harder to reach and many organisations are keen to have younger voices in their publications. Data protection considerations and the practical management of the communication channel were discussed.
Different methods for managing responses coming through the platform were discussed — such as installing instant replies to messages containing instructions on how to consent to the interaction.
The day ended with a group reflection on how we could disseminate learnings to members of our newsrooms and our communities. This was useful in getting us to think about whose voices were underrepresented at the event and how we could bring those voices in.
All in all, the workshop was a great introduction to the Engaged Journalism Accelerator and gave a useful insight into the methods and approaches being adopted across Europe in the field of Engaged Journalism. It was fantastic to spend the day amongst an inspiring group of people committed to serving their communities through journalism and finding new ways to take their initiatives and mission forward.
