What to Remember When Pitching Articles About Marginalized Communities
Though journalism should act on behalf of all communities, studies show that the field of journalism and especially major newsrooms are overwhelmingly white and male. In fact, research from the Pew Research Center shows that journalism, as a field, is less diverse than U.S. workers are overall. Published media often centers around problems affecting majority populations, while some publications have turned to ignoring or even villainizing marginalized communities.
Pitching articles for marginalized communities in a space like that can feel overwhelming—like an uphill battle. Luckily, there are more and more tools coming into play as the dearth of coverage on marginalized communities becomes more apparent and more pressing. One such tool is a variety of online databases that connect freelance journalists with more diverse sources and experts. Most of these databases rely on a small-fee subscription model so that journalists can use all available features. While resources like Study Hall are among the most widely used, databases with a narrower focus to bring attention to marginalized communities are more likely more useful. InterviewHer, 500 Queer Scientists, and many more hold the key to diversifying your contact pool.
Next, decide whether or not you are writing about marginalized communities or if you are writing for them. Journalist Julia Hotz defines writing about marginalized communities as focusing solely on their problems, rather than taking a solutions-based approach to pitching articles. “These communities aren’t damsels in distress waiting for a knight in shining armor to come and save them,” said journalist Oscar Perry Abello. This type of journalism occupies white saviorism and does not produce any conversations or actionable solutions to make a community’s voice heard. Acknowledging where the community has been able to exercise agency is an extremely important distinction to elevate the voices of that community, and interviewing the members of the community who are instrumental in that will give depth and dimension to the real cost of being marginalized.
In acknowledging agency, it’s also important to tackle sensitive issues with humanity and with caution. For example, everyone knows that there are marked discrepancies in life expectancy, particularly exacerbated by income inequality–that is likely to affect the group you are reporting on. As journalist Priti Salian points out, however, taking this topic directly to families is “thoughtless.” “It is thoughtless to ask a mom what the life expectancy of her….child could be,” she said. Journalists can consult doctors for that information if necessary. “Family members, friends, and others who know your sources may be able to fill gaps about information that is factual, but difficult to ask directly.”
Finally, it’s vital to involve your source in the journalistic process and make sure to cater both to their preferences and best interests. If your source does not wish to be associated with a specific term or stereotype, it is up to the journalist to report around that: for example, Salian encountered a subject who did not want to be associated with the term “refugee.” Salian’s solution was to use the word “exiled” as a descriptor, in accordance with her subject’s wishes. “Sometimes, interviews with marginalized and underprivileged communities can pose hurdles when people don’t speak the same language, do not own phones or have access to data or Wi-Fi,” she said. Sometimes the language in question is simply typical journalistic language–and it’s important to adjust and break out of our own habits, as journalists, if we are not serving the communities we are pitching to.
Once there is a prospective story and a way forward, then it’s time to pitch the story to the editor and make sure to continue to follow the tenets you have set yourself up with. In humanizing and elevating marginalized communities, journalists have the potential to change the national conversation surrounding these communities. Journalists may also find that work begot of this nature reaches people that their work wouldn’t otherwise meet, meaning it’s in absolutely everybody’s best interest to engage in this version of the journalistic process.
