During the 2008 recession Anita Varma worked in online advertising where she noticed widespread speculation about which demographic groups would grow fastest—and most lucrative—for advertising companies. The assumption was that demographic groups without substantial buying power were not worth advertisers’ attention. “It made me wonder about alternatives,” Varma said. “How and when do different groups of people become visible and vocal in media, particularly when they do not have the most monetary power in society? Under what conditions do media-makers turn their attention away from profit and toward public service? And how might media practices better serve the most vulnerable members of our society?”
To answer these questions, Varma started a PhD in communication at Stanford University. She began her studies intending to center her work on who gets quoted in journalism. But she quickly realized that the frequency of quotes did not fully account for the conditions of inclusion of different groups. Nor did the prevailing trends in media representation she read about in her courses seem to tell the whole story. “[W]e may hear exclusively from one individual struggling for basic needs, but if all we hear from them are their emotions and their personal background, then that's not a representation of the shared conditions creating the broader issue that affects far more than one isolated individual,” she said. She turned her attention from how often groups were included to the conditions of their inclusion.
She discovered that a small subset of journalism—solidarity journalism—had long been “doing things differently” from the objectivity-driven journalism discussed by most scholars and endeavored to find out what we can learn from this exception. The book that was born of this inquiry, Solidarity in journalism argues that solidarity is a longstanding yet unacknowledged journalistic norm that fosters truthful reporting when people’s basic dignity is at stake. “The reality is that solidarity journalism has always been part of the tradition of journalism, not deviant or a recent addition to it,” Varna said. “Solidarity in journalism dates back to the 1820s, while the rise of objectivity is commonly tied to the 1830s—so if we're thinking about tradition chronologically, solidarity came first.”
The book demonstrates how ethical journalism incorporates solidarity throughout the reporting process: deciding what is newsworthy, whom to include, how to approach them, what questions to ask, how to structure stories, and how to assess impact. Varma illustrates these practices through case studies of local and national reporting on homelessness, housing instability, and the cost of living, providing useful resources for journalism educators. Instructors in the US and abroad have incorporated the Solidarity Journalism Initiative's digital resources for reporting she provides into their teaching. “Positioning solidarity as part of the tradition of journalism is one way to counter attempts to inhibit journalism curricula from accounting for the wide range of approaches to journalism that have always been part of the craft” she said.
But advocating for change in journalism’s practices can be difficult and even dangerous. Varma’s work has faced attacks, both online and in person, designed to distract and derail her work. These attacks were serious enough that she could not simply ignore them, but she feels lucky to have had the support of colleagues in the journalism community. “Journalists often face similar—and worse—attacks while they are trying to work,” she said. “I am deeply grateful to many journalists who offered support and solidarity on the hardest days. They encouraged me to keep writing, which helped me maintain my determination to finish what I started.”
Ultimately, Varma wants her audience to understand that “Solidarity is a commitment to social justice that translates into action, and social justice means dignity for everyone in a society.” “Social justice” she said, “isn’t a bad word—it's the best of what journalism has done and still does for society.”
Varma will discuss her work with the Klein community at a Graduate Speaker Series event on Monday September 28th from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. in room 304.