Lessons from the People's Newsroom pilot

Wanted to share this really interesting blog from the Bureau Local about the progress of their People’s Newsroom pilot project in Wales, and their takeaways from it:

Two quotations in particular stood out to me:

“It’s clear to us that trust is the existential problem facing journalism and (re)building trust can’t and won’t be done overnight or by individuals or organisations working on their own”

“it became clear that we needed to create more time and space for reflection, processing and healing around the negative impacts of journalism that’s harmed many of us. We hadn’t expected to factor in time for healing or that our role would need to facilitate it but considering the generational harm of the media, this is something that should be addressed from the start in all reimagining work.”

There’s a really important lesson here, I feel, about the potential and nature of media reform work. We are not just trying to get policies changed, or win better conditions for workers in the media - if we are to truly present an alternative, we also have to recognise the untold harm that UK media has done to many groups of people, and build ways to start working through that where we can.

Sobering stuff, but also inspiring. Worth a read!