Reflecting on the Healing Power of Storytelling

I’m excited to introduce our Reparative Journalism Reflection & Discussion Guide, a companion to our three-part video series that explores ways to embed reparative actions in the field of journalism. Reparative journalism is a community-centered Black storytelling model that remedies harms the media industry has caused. It does so by centering repair, reckoning with journalism’s history of anti-Blackness and reclaiming healing storytelling traditions.

The videos grew out of the research that Free Press’ Diamond Hardiman conducted. They span from the anti-Black foundations of journalism — which set the stage for newspapers to harm communities of color — to movements around the globe that teach us ways to incorporate large-scale repair. The series concludes with the heart of reparative journalism: journalists who tell the stories that can facilitate individual, communal and societal-level healing.

I had the honor of co-creating this video series with my Free Press colleagues Hardiman, reparative narrative and creative strategy director, and Courtney Morrison, creative content manager. Free Press’ News Voices team informed and managed the series with the support and scholarship of Media 2070.

We created the accompanying guide to support journalism educators, the next generation of media-makers, current journalists and change-makers who are deeply rooted in their communities. We hope our recommendations will help people engage in conversations about how storytelling can repair past harms — and dream up ways to build narrative power.

Embark on your own storytelling journey 

Through watching, discussing, engaging and listening, my co-producers and I invite you to participate in this visual roadmap of what’s both required and possible when we prioritize reparative processes in journalism.

Want one of the producers to join a virtual screening for your journalism class, newsroom or community? Reach out to us to make a plan.

Sink into the Reparative Journalism Video Series, check out the discussion guide and let us know what moves you. We’d love to hear from you.

Help us keep creating impactful projects like our video series: Donate today.