Social justice journalism: valorising and empowering the experiences of ‘the other’

Through the use of a reflective praxis, this contextual statement considers how the author’s educational, journalistic and creative endeavours delivered between 2016 and 2022 have supported the advancement of displaced journalists in the UK, whilst also shifting views on migration within the media: from perceiving the other as being deficient, to valuing their abundance. The discussion centres on an award winning initiative called the Refugee Journalism Project that the author established following the Syrian Revolution, and the subsequent widespread migration to Europe in 2016. The work, which is ongoing, encompasses published journalism, workshops, mentoring, public events and research activities delivered in collaboration with media organisations, higher education institutes, journalists, artists and NGOs.

Alongside the experiential knowledge, it foregrounds and weaves in relevant aspects of auto-ethnographic narrative to explore how personal values have influenced the design and delivery of this work. As a Black female journalist witnessing and reporting on seminal news events such as the murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence, the discussion considers how race, gender and class collide with the traditions of editorial gatekeeping and employment practices. It positions the work as a broader response to perceived and documented inequalities inherent within media industry structures.

The statement draws on a range of historical sociological and anthropological perspectives including Arnold van Gennep’s (1909) work on the rites of passage as a way of understanding the refugee experience. Through this, it not only addresses the professional barriers faced by refugees as they seek to restore their lives and gain recognition, but also the personal upheaval of processing trauma and loss. In addition, contemporary theoretical and contextual thinking such as Barbie Zelizer’s (2013) call for reflexivity in mapping the future of journalism, are considered.

It establishes the concept of social justice journalism by critically analysing the activities and decisions through the lenses of agency and authenticity, collaboration and sustainability. These threads are made visible in the public works through its interactions primarily with displaced journalists and university students, but also its relationship with media organisations such as Bloomberg and The Guardian.

In conclusion, the contextual statement demonstrates that by adopting a social justice approach in education, media production and employment, this body of work offers an ethical response to some of the challenges facing the media industry in relation to representation, equality and cross-cultural values. Furthermore, it provides guidance on how other sectors can respond more positively to the demands of global migration, by reframing limited perceptions of those considered “the other”.