The J Word 3.6: Sourcing the Vulnerable

The J Word: A Podcast by Journalism Practice

Journalism sometimes gets a bad rap for its role in marginalizing voices – especially because journalism is supposed to be about tackling power structures. Guests in this episode provide their takes on sourcing the vulnerable and try to flip the script by providing some ways journalism can protect the marginalized and ignored.

Mi Rosie Jahng, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University in the U.S. and the co-author of “Reconstructing the Informal and Invisible,” helps us see how journalists are responding to the most-recent attack on their authority through cries against “fake news,” cries that are increasing public concerns that journalism doesn’t stand for truth.
From Spain, Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos, a researcher at the University of Navarra and co-author of “Data journalism in favela,” takes a focused look at specific efforts journalists are taking to humanize data about forgotten and marginalized folk. And Milda Malling, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Journalism Department at Södertörn University in Sweden and author of “Reconstructing the informal and invisible,” reminds us that the way journalism marginalizes may be at the roots of how it works with sources, alerting us to the engrained nature of power in the press.

Text Featured in this Episode:

de-Lima-Santos, M. F., & Mesquita, L. (2021). Data Journalism in favela: Made by, for, and about Forgotten and Marginalized Communities. Journalism Practice, 1-19.

Malling, M. (2021). Reconstructing the Informal and Invisible: Interactions Between Journalists and Political Sources in Two Countries. Journalism Practice, 1-21.

Jahng, M. R., Eckert, S., & Metzger-Riftkin, J. (2021). Defending the Profession: US Journalists’ Role Understanding in the Era of Fake News. Journalism Practice, 1-19.

Produced and hosted by Robert (Ted) Gutsche, Jr.
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