How and Why Journalists Should Report Hate Stories

Tess Woodyard

tw330817@ohio.edu

When journalists cover stories, they have to be aware of what kind of speech they put out. It is important for journalists to tread lightly on certain topics. This can be a dangerous thing for journalists to cover in news stories because they have to worry about the topics and the speech they use.

One of the most important things for journalists to remember is to report the truth and state the facts. According to an Article by Poynter, when reporting crucial stories, they have to be precise with language, politics, images, videos and avoid using code words and shorthand writing.

It is critical for journalists to be precise with their language. Rather than using labels, explain the full story of what is happening. When reporting on violent stories it is important to not incite violence. According to Poynter, rather than using words like "riot" or "mob", replace them with a phrase like "civil uprising".

When describing politics, journalists must use words and labels that don't automatically give stereotypes. For example, when speaking about certain groups that have stereotypes, you must be careful not to reinforce the stereotypes and explain what their movement stands for.

As for videos and images, journalists must include context. With social media in this day in age, videos can be cut down to only show certain aspects to find exactly what you are wanting to hear, but it is important to share the full story. Truth and transparency are overall.

Along with photos and videos, journalists can not just show the violence that takes place. This leads to even more hate on social media. It incites violent acts. It is also a core value for journalists to minimize harm. This includes sharing photos and videos within stories. Not only do we need to protect those within videos, but also the people watching them. 

As journalists, it is helpful to not shorthand your writing. Not everyone understands the same code words and phrases you do. Explain the full story so the general public can understand. 

Source: New York Film Accademy

Although documenting hate can be a challenging thing for journalists, according to an article by ProPublica, there are significant impacts from reporting and documenting hate stories.

According to ProPublica, there have been numerous policy changes from organizations due to journalists reporting these stories. Recommendations for better police policies, hate sites have been taken down, digital hate crime reporting processes have been changed, police departments have changed how they categorize hate crimes, and there has been an increase in resources to properly train police departments to identify and investigate hate crimes.

These are all incredible accomplishments that help journalists to continue reporting these stories for the right reasons and in the right ways.