Narrative shift is not our job

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We are almost through the re-examination of essential news functions.

We have moved through record creation, record correction, filling information gaps (I plan to further tweak by replacing “gaps” with “needs”), and creating accountability. In my first attempt to define the essential functions of news, in 2021, narrative shift was the fifth of six essential functions.

On re-examination, narrative shift does not make my list.

My definition of reporting in service of a narrative shift in 2021 was work that “helps people contextualize new information and current conditions by understanding that the past’s dominant narratives are not always accurate.” The example I used was Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project, published by the New York Times. The project was not an attempt to educate people about the connection between slavery and America's past and present. It was instead journalistic casemaking aimed at changing understanding by putting “the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States.”

The 1619 project was a feat of incredible journalism, analysis, and writing. It did shift people's understanding of slavery as a central fact of the economic, political, and moral history of America that continues to have contemporary echoes and consequences. I was better educated for having read it.

The New York Times, however, has plenty of money. It doesn't have to make hard choices about whether to support this kind of ambitious work by exceptional reporters who can pull it off. Few news organizations have such good fortune.

I see narrative shifts as natural and healthy for communities and society. Some journalists and news organizations will want to participate in this work, and it can be highly journalistic and highly valuable. It might even be essential. But I no longer see it as an essential function of news.

Does this distinction matter? For two reasons, I think it does. But first, an important caveat.

There have been and still are news organizations whose very existence and day-to-day work serving their communities is an act of resistance and key pillar larger narrative shifts are built on. The Black Press, street newspapers, and La Raza are American historical examples of how communities harnessed narrative power and increased their self-determination through defining and delivering their news. 

Local news organizations in this tradition, like MLK50, EnlaceNC, Documented NY, Lookout Arizona, and Indian Country Today, among others, prove the continued necessity and utility of this work. Those are essential newsrooms doing essential work. What is less essential, I think, are reported pieces and projects aimed primarily at correcting pervasive but inaccurate narratives news organizations have had a role in creating or solidifying. Service might be an effect, but not the point, of this work.

Talk is cheap

The first reason I've changed my mind about narrative shift is the increasing amount of opinion work media and news organizations are bankrolling and passing off as just “news.”

The incentives for news organizations to turn toward opinion work are strong. It can be faster, less rigorous, more brand-building, and better suited for YouTube and social networks than more thorough reporting. It can also be less valuable, less careful, and less durable.

Independent and public-serving news and information sources should, for at least the next many years, focus on providing the kind of news and information healthy communities and functioning democracies truly degrade without. Most opinion work can't make this cut. Even if what it is trying to do is shift the narrative.

Instead, we can and should have faith in other civic actors to engage in narrative shift work that is essential. Reporters and newsrooms can support this work through our reporting when it aligns with the needs of the communities we serve. High-quality reporting around issues of environmental justice, human rights, and policing and incarceration are examples here.

Essential functions are not a ceiling but a floor.

Essential functions should direct the core offerings of news organizations, but it doesn't limit them. Narrative shifts are inevitable. It is often important. Some news organizations will have the resources and mandate for these kinds of projects. 

Narrative shift is an agenda-correcting and setting function. Many news organizations still need to wean themselves off their attempts at agenda setting in favor of orienting toward service. We can, and perhaps should, leave the majority of narrative shift work to other actors in our civic fabric: public intellectuals, writers, movement journalists, artists, educators, filmmakers, and advocates.

This is not to argue that we should absolve ourselves of mistakes or harm we have contributed to. Reporters and news organizations have historically carried water for dominant narratives and established interests. Crime news is the best and unfortunately an enduring example of the way our work distorts narratives. Orienting towards community needs and harm makes this less likely, but not impossible. But I don't see introducing narrative shift as an effective corrective here either.

Instead, I find myself more interested in how we might more substantially change our daily work to keep us from contributing to inaccurate and harmful narratives in the first place. I recently learned about a Philadelphia-based coalition including reporters that developed an applicable and rigorous ethics policy as part of their safer journalism project. It's an incredible amount of work done with evident care.

Tell me what you think. Would better ethics policy and more discipline keep us from creating harmful narratives we later have to shift? Am I conflating narrative shift work and opinion work when they are distinct? Do you see narrative shift work as an essential news function? What are examples you've seen of this kind of work that you found valuable and want to see news organizations continue to engage in?

Next week I will have some pre-Thanksgiving reading recommendations. Until then, take care.