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Amy E. Harth, PhD's avatar

We definitely need more civic journalism that contextualizes the bad news with what we can do about it.

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lucy's avatar

Thank you for this reminder that we do, in fact, have a bit of agency in what media we consume. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed recently with my current gaggle of news sources, and that’s even with less than I used to read! Related to this is the idea of minding your own business, which the writer Hanif Abdurraqib has spoken about (hat tip to Austin Kleon for blogging about this a week or two ago). Figure out the things that really are important to your attention, and allow yourself to let go of the rest. Not that you’re apathetic; rather, it’s about rationing your energy and caring so that it doesn’t get dispersed too thin.

You mention elevating journalism that is amazing; I highly recommend the Solutions Journalism Network for this. They are both a resource for training journalists in equitable, solutions-oriented reporting, and they collate stories and publications that do just that. In a previous life I worked as a journalist, and had the chance to train with SJN a couple times, and it was always so illuminating to be reminded that even very complex, difficult situations probably have someone who’s trying, however imperfectly, to make good change happen.

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