New research from the LIFT Project has been published in The International Journal of Press/Politics, exploring how an ethic of love can help address media harm and strengthen relationships between journalists and the communities they serve.
The article, "Addressing Media Harm and Community Relationships through an Ethic of Love," was co-authored by Michigan State University School of Journalism faculty members Danielle K. Brown, Jarrad Henderson and Perry Parks alongside graduate student researchers Jessica Pettengill, Jung-Hsiang (Eric) Hsieh and Jasmine Snow.
For years, discussions of journalism ethics have largely centered on the actions journalists take on behalf of communities. Yet the authors argue that those traditional frameworks offer limited guidance for addressing the long-term effects of media harm, particularly in communities that have been marginalized or misrepresented by news coverage.
Seeking a new approach, the researchers turned to trusted journalists in the Midwest to find out how trust is built, despite community harm’s major influence on relationships. In the article, they explore how principles such as care, commitment, trust, responsibility and respect can help guide efforts to repair relationships between journalists and communities.
The publication builds on work from the LIFT Project, a community-engaged research initiative that examines how journalism can better serve individuals and families whose experiences have often been overlooked, misrepresented or harmed by traditional news coverage.
Drawing on insights from the project, the authors propose that to address media harm, journalism research and practice should move beyond the focus of one-way interactions from reporters. Instead, they suggest that community input, actions and responses should be considered and are critical to building trust as journalists' actions. Community repair requires sustained relationship-building, listening, and accountability that recognizes the experiences and needs of those most affected by media harm. It also requires
The study contributes to broader conversations about trust, ethics and community engagement in journalism, offering a framework for news organizations seeking to build stronger and more equitable relationships with the communities they serve.
For Brown, the publication is especially meaningful because it highlights the contributions of graduate students as collaborators in the research process.
"This project is as much about the ethic of love in journalism as it is about the labor of love in academia. This is truly interdisciplinary work; work that can sometimes have delayed rewards. But introducing graduate students to our research team and encouraging them to help explore new avenues and literature has been mutually beneficial for our research and the LIFT Project as a whole. In the end, having graduate students be an integral part of the process that finally led to this success is a lasting reward for the entire team.”
The project provided graduate students with opportunities to contribute to research that bridges academic scholarship and community engagement while gaining experience publishing in one of the field's leading journals.
By Claire Dippel