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Wanted: An Inclusive Epistemology of Journalism

Kim Pearson
Kim Pearson

This presentation to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is connected to a larger work in progress on the epistemology of computational journalism. That project can be found at http://kimpearson.net/Factsproject.html

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WANTED: AN INCLUSIVE EPISTEMOLOGY OF JOURNALISM WHOSE FACTS MATTER PANEL, AEJMC 2017 KIM PEARSON, THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY
COMPUTATION AL JOURNALISM: A CHALLENGE, AND AN OPPORTUNITY Journalism at scale Rethinking inclusion A culturally-responsive epistemology
JOURNALISM AT SCALE: FOR WHOM? BASED ON WHAT? Robotic reporting Who is writing the algorithms? How are reporting rules and story structed? Tech and journalism diversity issues Social computational crowdsourcing and verification How do you avoid enshrining bigotry? Racism in Google images, chat bots Data mining How is data vetted? How are limitations addressed? GIGO How, particularly, do we contextualize faulty historical data?
PARALLELS AND DISCONTINUITIES Computational journalism era Journalism at scale Social computational methods Data mining and analysis Credibility as a market positioning tool and civic imperative Objective journalism New tech, design and business models expanded methods for reaching audiences, transmitting stories, images Emphasis on credible sourcing, reporting, interviewing New social science methods: statistics, cultural anthropology Credibility as a market positioning tool
LESSONS FROM AN EARLIER ERA Several scholars, including David Mindich, have pointed to ways in which objective journalism at the turn of the 20th century was compromised by ingrained biases. Ray Stannard Bakers process in reporting his 1908 book, Following the Color Line serves as an interesting case study because of his use of authoritative black sources and social science pointing to cultural, not biological view of race.
RAY STANNARD BAKER 1870-1946 Leading practitioner of New Journalism interviews, storytelling, design for readability Muckraker worked with Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell Wrote fiction as David Grayson Close to Woodrow Wilson became his assistant, biographer
FOLLOWING THE COLOR LINE (1908) Prompted by Atlanta Riots of 1906, past reporting on lynching Interviewed black and white sources throughout South, North and Midwest Sent drafts for review to Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington Du Bois challenged his representation of white fear of black crime; Washington got him to report on incarceration and use of black convicts for profit Relies on elite representations of non- elites some of the elites happen to be black
CORRESPONDENCE WITH DU BOIS
SAME DATA, DIFFERENT TRUTHS: WHY?
ECHOES OF THE PAST Natalie Byfield reported the Central Park Jogger story, then studied the press coverage for her book, Savage Portrayals:"This case became an extreme example of how new narratives about racial groups based on the notion of color-blind racism make it possible for the use of racist tropes from the past and the existence of unequal racial outcomes to be dismissed by mainstream institutions as having little or no relationship to the country's historical and material foundations of racial inequality."
AS WE BUILD JOURNALISMS FUTURE News, increasingly, is a designed product based on the researched needs of a particular set of users. If we are to solve the problem of generating news that is deemed credible because it conforms to ingrained, but unsubstantiated bias, we have to approach inclusion with an understanding of the ways in which objective ways of knowing can subvert our search for truth. Ramesh Srinavasan argues for an approach to technology design that might be constructively adapted to journalism. Like the traditional technology developer, the objective journalist stands outside of a community. Srinivasan criticizes social sciences that remain closed to the description, categorization and ontologies that fail to fit within the Western or technocratic canon. Rather, he advocates for praxis: a collaborative process by which we listen, learn and practice humility. (Whose Global Village)

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Wanted: An Inclusive Epistemology of Journalism

  • 1. WANTED: AN INCLUSIVE EPISTEMOLOGY OF JOURNALISM WHOSE FACTS MATTER PANEL, AEJMC 2017 KIM PEARSON, THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY
  • 2. COMPUTATION AL JOURNALISM: A CHALLENGE, AND AN OPPORTUNITY Journalism at scale Rethinking inclusion A culturally-responsive epistemology
  • 3. JOURNALISM AT SCALE: FOR WHOM? BASED ON WHAT? Robotic reporting Who is writing the algorithms? How are reporting rules and story structed? Tech and journalism diversity issues Social computational crowdsourcing and verification How do you avoid enshrining bigotry? Racism in Google images, chat bots Data mining How is data vetted? How are limitations addressed? GIGO How, particularly, do we contextualize faulty historical data?
  • 4. PARALLELS AND DISCONTINUITIES Computational journalism era Journalism at scale Social computational methods Data mining and analysis Credibility as a market positioning tool and civic imperative Objective journalism New tech, design and business models expanded methods for reaching audiences, transmitting stories, images Emphasis on credible sourcing, reporting, interviewing New social science methods: statistics, cultural anthropology Credibility as a market positioning tool
  • 5. LESSONS FROM AN EARLIER ERA Several scholars, including David Mindich, have pointed to ways in which objective journalism at the turn of the 20th century was compromised by ingrained biases. Ray Stannard Bakers process in reporting his 1908 book, Following the Color Line serves as an interesting case study because of his use of authoritative black sources and social science pointing to cultural, not biological view of race.
  • 6. RAY STANNARD BAKER 1870-1946 Leading practitioner of New Journalism interviews, storytelling, design for readability Muckraker worked with Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell Wrote fiction as David Grayson Close to Woodrow Wilson became his assistant, biographer
  • 7. FOLLOWING THE COLOR LINE (1908) Prompted by Atlanta Riots of 1906, past reporting on lynching Interviewed black and white sources throughout South, North and Midwest Sent drafts for review to Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington Du Bois challenged his representation of white fear of black crime; Washington got him to report on incarceration and use of black convicts for profit Relies on elite representations of non- elites some of the elites happen to be black
  • 9. SAME DATA, DIFFERENT TRUTHS: WHY?
  • 10. ECHOES OF THE PAST Natalie Byfield reported the Central Park Jogger story, then studied the press coverage for her book, Savage Portrayals:"This case became an extreme example of how new narratives about racial groups based on the notion of color-blind racism make it possible for the use of racist tropes from the past and the existence of unequal racial outcomes to be dismissed by mainstream institutions as having little or no relationship to the country's historical and material foundations of racial inequality."
  • 11. AS WE BUILD JOURNALISMS FUTURE News, increasingly, is a designed product based on the researched needs of a particular set of users. If we are to solve the problem of generating news that is deemed credible because it conforms to ingrained, but unsubstantiated bias, we have to approach inclusion with an understanding of the ways in which objective ways of knowing can subvert our search for truth. Ramesh Srinavasan argues for an approach to technology design that might be constructively adapted to journalism. Like the traditional technology developer, the objective journalist stands outside of a community. Srinivasan criticizes social sciences that remain closed to the description, categorization and ontologies that fail to fit within the Western or technocratic canon. Rather, he advocates for praxis: a collaborative process by which we listen, learn and practice humility. (Whose Global Village)

Editor's Notes

  • #2: I should begin by saying that I am not a historian. My study of journalism history is search for ways to improve the depth and breadth of contemporary and future practice. My research has been in developing curricular models for interdisciplinary computational journalism collaborations. Some of those models also involve community engagement.
  • #9: Bakers treatment of black crime reflected Susan Jacobys criticism of false balance in objective journalism giving equal or greater weight to compelling, but unrepresentative anecdotes as opposed to data that better reflects the broader reality.
  • #12: Srinivasan: Most user-centered design principles perpetuate a master-designer, God-type complex by failing to consider the complexities fo culture, economy, education and politics. I am still working through my thoughts about this, but one idea I am advocating is developing hybrid classes in which journalism students study alongside members of the communities in which their schools are located, and develop news products together.