Evidence-based transgender writer and podcaster.
Author of The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity
Email:ravenjournalist at gmail
Hello, my name is Lewis and I wrote a book and made a podcast about the myth of "objective" journalism and how it upholds dominant, oppressive systems and attitudes. I'm told it is relevant content for these times.
URGENT: There are nine Haitian asylum-seekers on Desecheo, an island off of Mayagüez, which has no water or food. My partner works on a boat and saw them yesterday, swam in with some supplies. Her boat's captain called the Coast Guard who did not show up yesterday or today. 1/7
I know I have perpetuated pro-police narratives without realizing it before. This workshop and guide for journalists will help folks look out for the pitfalls of "copaganda" and ally with communities seeking a voice in a conversation that's long been lopsided.
My thoughts on Uri Berliner’s predictable conservative critique of
@npr
? Let’s start with this: many older, wealthier white men are demonstrably pissed that they are no longer being catered to at every turn, in every area of society.
So inspired by this art by
@micahbazant
with
@prisonculture
. “When something can’t be fixed then the question is what do we build instead.” - Mariame Kaba
After I left public radio, one of my radio mentors told me she was sure I would work in the industry again soon, unless I wrote a book called, like, the Objectivity Myth or something. Well.
For folks who missed today's event, Don't Be A Copagandist, we launched a few new resources! One, I have Office Hours now as part of the Abolition Journalism Fellowship at
@interruptcrim
. I am here to talk to you, journalists AND organizers doing abolitionist work (or trying!)
If these nine people are stranded they will die. A number of them are children. The boat my girlfriend is on does not have the ability to navigate in to pick them up. Someone needs to go and bring them food/water. The public also needs to pressure
@CBP
to rescue them. 3/7
It's not ideal that CBP is already involved. Because of the Biden administration's disturbing, anti-Black policies toward Haitian immigrants, they may also face deportation. Ideally they will receive safe passage to mainland PR and be able apply for asylum from there. 4/7
It's a catch-22 for all marginalized and oppressed people in mainstream U.S. journalism. Nothing changes unless we protest, but if we protest we are disciplined or fired. If we're lucky, later, we are recognized as having been right to protest.
The
@nytimes
said it won't "tolerate" participation by its journalists in "protests organized by advocacy groups or attacks on colleagues on social media and other public forums” -- in reference to a letter attacking NYT coverage of transgender youth:
I actually feel like
@prisonculture
and
@dreanyc123
's
#NoMorePolice
is restoring my faith in...journalism? Because it IS journalism! And it makes this really complex argument simple and accessible by citing real-world examples, many first reported by community journalists. !!!!
Who's your favorite *local* movement journalist? Bonus points: who's doing a great job covering "crime," violence and policing (whether or not they are a movement journalist)?
Things you can do: Please DM me if you are in or near Mayagüez and can help. If you are anywhere, please call CBP. The Puerto Rico press officer's number is (787) 729-6999, the desk/office number is (787) 729-6998. When I called, they said they knew nothing about it. 5/7
I talked to the Coast Guard office in San Juan several times. The third time I called, they said the issue was turned over to Customs and Border Protection. I just got off the phone with
@CBP
and they are not answering questions. 2/7
Thinking about this phrase, "racially motivated." In our workshops we focus a lot on IMPACT over INTENT. In other words — something doesn't have to be consciously "racially motivated" to be racist. What matters is the power dynamic and harm caused, which are always racialized.
Say that you heard about the group of Haitian asylum seekers stranded on Desecheo, and you want to know whether they are going to be rescued or left to die. Express that it's urgent. Say that you want assurance that they will be allowed to apply for asylum from Puerto Rico. 6/7
I have been an abolitionist for 16 years w/the mentorship of
@prisonculture
@projectnia
and
@BLACKandPINKorg
. Seeing these ideas go mainstream=kinda unreal//the struggle is long haul//hope is a discipline. Had a hard week but trying to celebrate this!
Again, these folks will die if they are not rescued, ideally before nightfall tonight. CBP needs to know we are watching. Please retweet this thread. Thank you. 7/7
Reporters: the "fact that the protest was peaceful" is not an angle. It's a damaging dichotomy that distracts from the violence of police, the lived violence Black folx are rising up against. Please don't make the historical record be about how "polite" people were in response.
When I got fired from
@Marketplace
for naming the myth of "objectivity" in the face of rising racist and transphobic rhetoric,
@Samuel_Worley
supported me with everything he had. Now he's resigned his editorial job over...rising racism and transphobia.
Four years since I was suspended
@Marketplace
for publicly questioning "neutrality" in the face of Trump's lies, transphobia and racism. Still waiting for the apology, the commitment to anti-racism, and the repair they owe to many people — not just me.
Know what though? I don't just want rights. I want a fundamental transformation of the way we think, talk, and learn about gender. I want all gendered violence to stop. I want police and prisons out of our communities. I want reparations for slavery and rape.
Journalists are encouraged to have close relationships with police and businesses while close relationships with the (many more) people harmed and exploited are an afterthought. Let's follow the examples of
@MLK50Memphis
and
@baltbeat
and flip it!
About to give a talk to reporters and editors at
@WBEZ
where I started my work as a full-time journalist! What an exciting full circle moment, for me...
I spent the morning crying as I read articles about Congressional Republicans' bullying of
@NorthwesternU
President Schill - a Jewish man - simply for supporting his students and faculty in their right to protest and openly discuss Israel and Zionism on campus.
Update at 10 p.m. -- please call in the morning. Offices are closed/phones are ringing with no answer. We still don't know if they have been picked up.
@CBP
hasn't responded to reporters, either.
I have been hearing stories from multiple sources recently about radical conservative ideology being repackaged as an objective or nonpartisan stance in newsrooms. This is one of the more egregious examples.
NPR ethics policy update: Journalists can now participate in activities that advocate for “freedom and dignity of human beings” on social media and in real life.
On my mind today: The white person desire (I feel it often) to not "alienate people" but what we really mean is white ppl/our families/our bosses/etc. Meanwhile we alienate BIPOC all the time and don't usually even know we have done that b/c of power differentials...
.
@Marketplace
@Medium
3/ I want media to change, to rise to the challenge of this moment. And to stop tokenizing ppl like me w/out welcoming our actual views
@tuckwoodstock
Agree. I feel like the concept of performative allyship is important in interpersonal contexts but we're out here trying to change narratives! I hate the idea that folks are discouraged from speaking out by the fear of appearing to not do enough
@NPR
Berliner’s complaints include that NPR is focused on ending systemic racism; that NPR allows trans people to dictate how trans people should be talked about; and that NPR doesn’t cater to ideological conservatives, or even makes them feel uncomfortable or unseen.
"The bill’s language that calls for “impartial instruction” of history and banning any lessons “promoting division” amongst racial groups gives the illusion of racial neutrality but is really designed to reproduce racism in U.S. society."
Cisgender media makers are showing up decades into a difficult struggle, suddenly interested in what trans people are saying. Then they are surprised when we have touchy reactions to their crappy coverage. Guess what? I'm annoyed! And wrote a thing
In early 2017, I wrote that instead of waiting and seeing, journalists should clarify our anti-racist, anti-oppression values so that we could better fight back against rising authoritarianism. I (and many others) ...tried....to....tell...y'allllll....
Today is my first day as a Movement Journalism Fellow (AKA as myself) at
@interruptcrim
with
@prisonculture
and
@dreanyc123
and I'm so ready!!! To work!!! It is a true full-circle moment as exactly 10 years ago I started my first full-time gig in journalism thanks to Mariame...
I just want to work on our podcast and start a new news organization and transform the information infrastructure toward justice and make journalism orgs pay racial reparations by restructuring at every level and write a bunch and also crawl in a hole where there is no pandemic
On Monday
@thrasherxy
mentioned an NYT editorial where a straight lady is upset about the use of the word queer. I said, "this came out which year?" and he said "yesterday." This is why I cannot with the Times.
The white silence on Trump's white supremacy has been thunderous. I want to talk about how white journalists could have been in solidarity with ppl like
@jelani9
@fivefifths
@nhannahjones
and
@jdesmondharris
, and how we can do better in the future.
Abolitionist journalists, activist media makers: I'm here
@interruptcrim
to help you connect with each other, access resources, and do what you do even more effectively. Sign up for office hours this month if you wanna connect!
.
@Marketplace
@Medium
10/ History tells us “objectivity” shifts as the center does. As center moves away from democracy and human rights, will media shift too?
Don't I know it! Not that I think he *should* be fired. But it's not lost on me that almost all of my colleagues in public radio were silent when I was fired over a blog post about transphobia and white supremacy, and the people who did speak publicly were not white men.
This white man who stirred up shit at NPR is lucky the entire American media power structure caters to him, because if he’d critiqued NPR as a person who was trans, nonwhite, and/or LGBTQ, he’d have been fired the day his complaint was published & never let back into the bldg
Also: given that it’s a whole essay criticizing
@NPR
for "telling people how to think,” I’m fascinated that he cannot cite a single actual example of NPR actually telling people how to think. Everything has a frame, yes -- he just doesn't like the frame as much now.
If there’s anything to criticize
@NPR
for in this realm, I’d say it’s the tendency to frame political discussions in terms of party politics. “Viewpoint diversity” insists on and reinforces precisely that frame, ignoring the forms of diversity that are truly still lacking at NPR.
What this essay – and all analyses of “viewpoint diversity” that I have seen – there’s a key (and perhaps stubborn) misunderstanding of people in this country. White men in the center often assume that everyone's most important and polarizing identity is a partisan one.
.
@Marketplace
@Medium
7/ We need more courage, more resources, more experimentation, more reporters. Support your local public radio station! and risk-taking!
But for most people, there are dozens of concerns, identities, and social locations that matter more than left versus right: class, race, gender, geography, vocation, ethnicity, disability, and sexuality among them. In fact, people are TIRED of left/right polarization.
I love it when Dr. Thrasher
@thrasherxy
breaks down transphobia for people, and reminds people that while these cis assholes whine about being cancelled and silenced, many trans people (me included) have been ***FIRED AND REMOVED FROM THE PREMISES*** for defending our community.
The students at
@thedailynu
did something not enough journalists are willing to do—they apologized for harm or potential harm caused by their reporting, and tried to repair it.
@troy_closson
should be held up as a model for the humility and curiosity journalism could use more of.
I spent months last year working on this devastating story about a racist utility policy in LaGrange, GA. I just learned that the
@Georgia_NAACP
and
@ProjectSouth
WON their lawsuit against the city, and the policy will be overturned!
My book The View from Somewhere is one of many places where you can learn about how "liberal bias" has been deployed by conservatives to persuade media not to cover the issues of Black, Brown, and queer people -- for decades. It is a deliberate strategy that is not new.
Alert: North Carolina is poised to make wearing a mask for public health reasons illegal, as a part of a crackdown on protest in general. Chilling, but an opportunity for us to ramp up our solidarity across issues of disability, religion, race, gender...
You know who I'd like to deplatform? Jesse Singal. You know who I'd like to review transphobic books for the New York Times? Nobody. That shit should not get a review.
The enemy is not and never was Donald Trump. It is white supremacy and the totalitarian impulse that supports it. We must continue to fight without a drop of complacency. Only an anti-racist, intersectional movement can accomplish this, so the dems will need to get on board.🌈🔥
Some personal news. I have just taken a job as ethics czar at the New York Times.
JK. JK. But my DMs are open if any media org out there wants revolution over reform and offers health benefits!
Announcing the Southern Movement Media Fund!
@PressOn_South
is making grants of $5,000 for individuals, $15,000 for organizations, with deadlines Oct. 2 and Oct. 23. Read all about it here:
An aside, this whole argument for “viewpoint diversity” is an invention of Right Wingers who want to deploy faux objectivity to silence marginalized people. If you don’t believe me, read my book? I wrote a history of this, in a chapter ironically called “Public Radio Voice.”
I hate this because on the one hand, it's undermining Nina Totenberg's reporting as a woman, because of her friendship w/another smart and powerful woman. On the other hand, I was fired from public media for the "bias" of calling objectivity a myth and Donald Trump a racist. So.
It just so happens that his POV has massive institutional support and a very organized media machine behind it, saying it over and over every chance they get.
Straight, white, non-trans men created newsroom structures and continue to hold disproportionate leadership positions, which means that changing newsroom culture is also about addressing power. Objectivity is not enough.
The least
@NPR
can do is not repeat conservative talking points that are being blasted out on Fox News already. Thank you NPR for your good judgment on that front, seriously.
We also created an index for journalists to make use of the new book No More Police by
@dreanyc123
and
@prisonculture
. You can use it find stats and analysis you need for your reporting.
If journalism isn’t anti-racist, it’s probably racist. If it’s not intentionally working to combat patriarchy, it’s upholding it. If it’s not actively trans-affirming, it’s probably harming trans people. And so on.
It's nearing the two-year anniversary of this transformative incident in my life. And I'm FINALLY producing a podcast, "The View From Somewhere," about journalists who have stood up to gatekeeping and white supremacy. More info coming soon, stay tuned!!!
Imagine an
@NPR
that was all about the interests of working class and poor people. Or an NPR whose stories were focused on Black and brown communities primarily. You feel me?
His examples are all about news judgment - things that he thinks should have been covered less, or more. And yet news judgment changes depending on who is in the room, whose needs are considered. That is part of the argument for all kinds of diversity in newsrooms.
A little over a year since I was fired for publishing this piece. People continue to share it, and I am now writing a book on the topic for
@UChicagoPress
. I'm learning so much, and I can't believe the love I've received, and the humbling process of knowing our history.
So me and Uri do have something in common. He’s over there saying conservatives should get more air time. I’m over here saying NPR should cater to the interests of the most marginalized and underrepresented, across the political spectrum. These are both ideological viewpoints.
I'm feeling just absolute rage and deep grief at the death of Lorena Borjas. What it takes for trans people of color to survive to age 59 is no joke. Then to die from this.
What we're calling "transphobia" is a mode of fascist ideology, not a coherent worldview based in shared reality or even shared ignorance. Trans people threaten a social order that has used racialized patriarchy + white supremacy to effectively control people for centuries.
Proud to have supported my Jewish and Palestinian friends with
@jvplive
yesterday. I was arrested alongside over 300 others at the capitol. We demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and also support Palestinian calls for their self-determination (1)
White supremacy is upheld by the things we white folks don't do (not just by active white supremacists). What white-dominated media choose not to cover is a part of that. My latest from
@Rewire_News
and
@scalawagmag