Jasmine Snow is using her voice to shine a light on Black experiences in the media.
Snow, a first year Master’s student in the School of Journalism, is focusing her studies on media messaging, representation, multimedia and community reporting. She came of age during “The Trayvon Generation.” That’s the title of Elizabeth Alexander’s 2022 book describing young Americans who grew up watching a barrage of cell phone videos capturing the murder of predominantly Black men.
Growing up as a person of mixed race in rural South Dakota, Snow watched many such tragedies unfold in the national headlines.
And it made her mad.
“I grew up watching black men die on TV,” Snow said. “Watching how people in my community responded with their personal opinions and comments, and then watching how the news media did it…I just felt there were so many stories that were not told or invalidated by the mainstream media.”
So, she found a way to turn her anger into activism.
“I had a lot of feelings and a lot of interesting ways of expressing them, and one of them was to join my high school newspaper,” Snow said. “I liked the power it gave me to ask questions. I’ve always been very opinionated and angry about injustices, and journalism was a way to combine those facets with a strong love of writing.”
Snow enrolled at the University of Minnesota (UMN) as an undergraduate and took a reporting job with the Minnesota Daily. It was there that she met Danielle K. Brown, Ph.D., who taught at UMN before her current role as the 1855 Community and Urban Journalism Professor in the School of Journalism at MSU. Brown is the founding director of the LIFT Project, where Snow works as a graduate research assistant. Brown was working with the publishing house In Black Ink to contribute to a book project entitled “Black Media In Minnesota.”
“She mentioned this opportunity and that she was writing a chapter, and I could submit something for it, too,” said Snow. “They emailed several different writing prompts, and I chose kind of a combination like, ‘what's your journey getting into journalism; what do you hope to see or do in the industry?’ So, I wrote it and sent it in.”
In her submission, Snow writes about her 2019 arrival at the Minnesota Daily as the national headlines reporter on the city desk. She joined the publication’s Content Diversity Board, where she tried to turn discussions about serving her community through diverse and equitable coverage into action. Many of those conversations materialized into coverage guides, training sessions and reporters’ workshops.
Then came the moment Snow says “pulled the floor out from under us.”
On May 25, 2020, the University of Minnesota was on lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Snow was at home in South Dakota when 46-year-old George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis. His killing unleashed a torrent of protests and activism across the country.
“Within hours and days (of the murder), seeing the response from Minnesota and the nation, I was heartbroken and outraged,” Snow said. “But I wasn’t surprised. I’d been working at the Minnesota Daily at that point for nine or 10 months, and I felt grateful that I was in a place where I didn't have to sit this one out. I felt like I could do something. I was on the phone basically for three days without really any sleep at all. I was asking people what they were seeing and how they were feeling. I talked to activists and student groups who were mobilizing. We put out several stories (on the incident).”
The experience had a profound influence on Snow, both professionally and personally.
“It really shaped my reporting ethos,” she said. “I was telling stories with the community and not just telling stories about the community. It also incredibly drained me because even though I was very well supported in that newsroom, I did not personally process things very well.”
Snow wrote in her book chapter:
“It took me a while to realize I was running on fumes. Really, I had come into this all armed with very little other than blind optimism and a secret belief that people, once they were truly, thoroughly informed, would stop believing in the same beliefs that had hurt me all these years. Arrogance or hope, a secret part of me really thought that systems (the city, the university, student groups) did harmful things, in part, because they were unaware. I thought being a journalist meant I could single-handedly spread that awareness and ensure a better path forward. Thankfully, I’ve since been taken down a few pegs.”
Snow recognizes that her own approach to journalism -- reporting from her community and not simply on it – differs from the strict objectivity adhered to by countless reporters who preceded her. While she respects their contributions, Snow believes she brings a certain authenticity to her work that can’t be perceived from a distance.
“One thing I think that was really big for me is that in Minnesota, I was taught differently,” she said. “My professors were like, well, objectivity is a thing we believe doesn't really work anyway so let’s move past it. I think it’s about being honest. I don’t think that I'm reporting with the same kind of fidelity if I’m coming to you as a storyteller and saying I have no dog in this fight, no horse in this race. When I look like I do…I don’t have the privilege of objectivity.”
Jasmine Snow says her goal during graduate school is to explore different storytelling methods. She continues to work with the LIFT Project, which has recently published a new report, “Community Priorities and Media Preferences 2024.” Snow says she’s focused on learning how to better serve and work alongside the communities to which she belongs.
“I would love to join an organization that allows me to be in a newsroom or to be a part of a team where I can learn and grow from others while also telling stories that are important to me and important to communities I care about,” Snow said. “Whatever lets me do that, I’m game.”
By Kevin Lavery