A final thought

Journalism right now is a field in which everyone is being asked to do more with less. Sometimes it feels as if we don’t even have time to get the bare minimum done. So why bother with all this extra work?

Good question. When describing this project to fellow journalists, I haven’t heard a single one say, “There’s no need for your work; the way media portrays disabled people is great and definitely the best we can do as a profession.” Instead, people say, “Oh, this is a much-needed resource; we could be doing so much better!” I get similar feedback from journalists of different ages, working in different media and with different views on objectivity, transparency and “diversity.”

It could just be that everyone was being nice to me, but I doubt it. I think we journalists know disability coverage in the Western media is … not great. I think we all know that, taken as a whole, it’s reductive, full of stereotypes and not an accurate reflection of the society in which we live. I think we want to do better.

Doing better means doing more than just changing some of the words we use. It requires taking stock of our own media culture, practices and values. It means examining whose time and effort we consider important and valuable, who is seen as credible by default and who requires extra scrutiny, and who has control of the narratives we produce. It means, in short, change. Change in terms not only of the stories we cover, but also of the values and priorities that shape our coverage over the long term.

This change will have to be cultural as well as specific, and newsroom leaders will have to drive it forward, because it means expanding the definitions of our job. As a whole, we journalists are determined people, and we see our mandate as getting the story done no matter what. But what if we took on a grander ideal for our job? What if we see our mandate as telling the truth to the public by more accurately and inclusively reflecting the society in which we live? It might mean some stories take a little bit more time. But, on the whole, it would result in much better, fairer and more truthful journalism. That’s a change I believe we can get behind.