"Reid and McKinley succeed in nudging ordinary citizens to aspire to talk and to be heard, and to demand news media that listen to them and take their stories seriously. The authors explore the notion of voice and listening as parts of the same equation in which one cannot succeed without the other."
Richard Tusiime, Makerere University, Uganda
"News media sector representatives, journalists and editors often respond to criticism of the press with assertions that the freedom and independence of the news media must be protected at all costs. This is often an almost automatic knee-jerk reaction. For many, the freedom of the press is an infallible sacred cow. This line of argument is sometimes well placed. But at other times it is decidedly manipulative and unhelpful."
Julie Reid & Dale T. McKinley (authors)
“What sets the book apart from other similar studies in this area is firstly its painstaking empirical work in South African communities (which says a great deal about the authors’ ability to gain the trust of these communities and their own ability to listen to the voices of the people); and secondly its attempt to derive from this interaction practical and concrete suggestions for improvement of journalism that moves beyond a mere critique.”
Professor Herman Wasserman, Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town
“Tell Our Story is a valuable addition to the South African discourse on media freedom: the authors examine the issue through the lens of grassroots communities in struggle, within a theoretical framework of listening. Media freedom is most often seen from the point of view of journalists. Here, the emphasis is on the right to be heard, represented, understood, and to be included. Reid and McKinley interviewed communities personally and so were able to compare their first-hand accounts with the content of news reporting that covered the same events. They found gaps: the news media often missed crucial information or got the facts wrong, simply because they neglected to practice a meaningful level of listening journalism.”
Professor Glenda Daniels, Journalism and Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
“This book offers a fresh and useful approach that will add significantly to the growing body of literature that critiques the mainstream media.”
Professor Franz Kruger, Journalism and Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
TELL OUR STORY
MULTIPLYING VOICES IN THE NEWS MEDIA
ABOUT THE BOOK
DESCRIPTION
Investigating bias in the mainstream media, the authors dismiss the idea that some groups are voiceless, arguing that they are being deliberately ignored. Adopting an audience-centred approach and research in practice in three South African communities, they draw out a set of practical guidelines for journalists on listening journalism.
The dominant news media is often accused of reflecting an ‘elite bias’, privileging and foregrounding the interests of a small segment of society while ignoring the narratives of the majority. The authors of Tell Our Story investigate this problem and offer a hands-on demonstration of listening journalism and research in practice. In the process they dismiss the idea that some groups are voiceless, arguing that what is often described in such terms is mostly a matter of those groups being deliberately ignored. Focusing their attention on three South African communities they delve into the life and struggle narratives of each, exposing the divide between the stories told by the people who actually live in the communities and the way in which those stories have told by the media. The three communities are those living in the Glebelands hostel complex in Durban where over 100 residents have been killed in politically motivated violence; the Xolobeni community on the Wild Coast, which has been resisting the building of a toll road and a dune mining venture; and Thembelihle, a settlement south-west of Johannesburg that has been resisting removal for many years. The book concludes with a set of practical guidelines for journalists on the practice of listening journalism.
“Through an analysis of the media coverage of three different community struggles the authors pose a much-needed challenge to dominant media practices in reporting on working class lives and protests. They demonstrate incredible resolve to tell the stories of activists and ordinary community members in the face of persistent misrepresentation, demonisation and criminalisation. They make a compelling argument that mainstream media fail working class people when they neglect to tell their stories adequately. The authors don’t just offer critique: they also provide practical suggestions for how policymakers could promote a more inclusive media diversity and broaden their understanding to include ‘listening journalism’. This is an important book.”
Professor Jane Duncan, Journalism, Film and Television, University of Johannesburg
REVIEWS
Column
Addressing inequality in a post-pandemic world requires a more inclusive and representative news media
By Julie Reid & Dale T. McKinley
In their recently published book, Tell Our Story. Multiplying voices in the news media, Julie Reid and Dale T. McKinley explore grassroots community stories that often get overlooked by mainstream media and they use these stories to critically evaluate the role that the media plays in constructing and disseminating dominance. They offer some background to the book.
Book Launch
The book launch for Tell Our Story. Multiplying Voices in the News Media, was held on 9 September 2020. The launch was hosted online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The book’s authors, Julie Reid and Dale McKinley speak to the contents and aims of the book: as a means to surface the stories of three different communities from around South Africa, and to highlight how the mainstream or dominant media often ignores such stories and voices. Community leader and Wild Coast anti-mining activist, Nonhle Mbuthuma, responds with her thoughts on the relationship between journalists, the media, and communities in struggle. The launch was moderated by Zukiswa Pikoli, a journalist at Maverick Citizen, which is a platform of the Daily Maverick that focuses on civil society.