Mallary Tenore-- Restorative, Solutions Oriented Journalism

Broadcast 9/10/2014 at 3:13 PM EDT (29 Listens, 18 Downloads, 1871 Itunes)
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Mallary Jean Tenore, managing director of Images & Voices of Hope ivoh.org

Prior to joining ivoh, Mallary was managing editor of The Poynter Institute's media news site, Poynter.org. She remains an adjunct faculty member at the institute and teaches sessions on social media

This article inspired me to interview Mallary:

Why Restorative Narratives are an important part of the media landscape

Brief interview Notes-- mostly my questions

Describe stories that describe how people or communities are recovering and rebuilding in the aftermath of tragedies"

Also see restorative narratives in more chronic situations, like Detroit.

Curtis Clark-- editor of Newtown Bee-- asked himself, after tragedy at the school, "What is the purpose of the paper?"

Rob: So restorative journalism looks at people or communities

restorative narratives can help show communities how to be resilient.

Restorative narratives aren't always positive or happy-go-lucky, and they don't necessarily end on a high note. But they're positive in the sense that they touch upon themes like survival, growth and rejuvenation -- themes that, at some point in our lives, we can all relate to. Restorative narratives capture hard truths, but they don't focus on what's broken. Instead, they reveal hope in times of despair.

Rob: How would a restorative narrative look in Ferguson Missouri?

ask, is there a restorative component to this? Too soon to tell

sometimes RNs may not be about the entire community-- may be about an individual.

Rob: talk about how hero's journey applies

Series Girl in the Closet Dallas Morning News by Scott Farwell

Got story after he got victim to trust him

asks "What has this person

Rob: Discuss positive psychology and my work with heartwarming-- What's the difference between restorative narratives and human interest stories

Human Interest stories don't focus on resilience and recovery.

RNs tend to take a deeper dive into what the recovery and restorative process looks like.

often take longer to report,

Rob: So RNs tend to have tragedy, loss, and then resilience and recovery

Mallary: people feel stressed

U of P looked at intersection of positive psychology and journalism-- hopeful stories get people feeling more engaged.

Characteristics of Restorative Narratives

Are authentic & sustained

true to a person's experience. Don't assume they've overcome something when they are still in the thick of it.

They are responsive to the community.

New community news site-- brotherly-- wants to also help community

Rob: some would say that journalism is supposed to be objective,

public's trust has been on the decline-- partly because they don't feel a deep seated connection to the media.

Awaken a sense of human connection:

RN helps people feel connected to their own community. RN can create a place for discussion-- remind people for what's possible when they work together to recover.

Rob: ding, ding ding--- there's a bottom-up commention-- that tragedies start out about one person and the RN becomes a story about a community, about how the people the victim are connected to contribute to the RN.

Reveal something universal, yet localized:

can relate to feelings of loss, neglect, difficulties trusting-- truths that are universal. The most moving stories really connect us to universal truths or experiences.

Rob: What's the history of IVOH.org?

started looking at how the media could help stories-- to be strength based.

center for constructive journalism-- helps journalism students to learn how to focus on solutions.

There's a shift in what people are looking for in news.

Time article, looking at sites -- uplifting stories-- Buzzfeed, Upworthy-- If social is the future of media than optimistic stories might be the media's future.

These stories strengthen journalism.

Rob: Huffingtonpost is requiring shorter articles-- under 1200 words-- do short articles lend themselves to RNs?

Rob: If you're trying to write a short RN article, what are

capturing struggle, don't ignore difficult time,

Make sure that's not the focus of story-- RNs are not 90% about the tragedy--

Focusing primarily on how that person has l earned to rebuild and what resilience has looked like for them.

Rob: Is there an annual reward-- or some kind of Pulitzer for RNs--

Have an annual media summit-- June 2015 in upstate NYC-- give out awards at annual media summit.

Rob: Can you tell us about the Poynter Institute

Own Tampa Bay Times--

was managing editor at Poynter.org still does social media

Rob: What are the most important t hints that a journalist should know and use with social media?

Twitter can be an amazing place to find story ideas and sources

Social media should be a two way conversation-- has made journalists a lot more accessible.

Rob: How does social media change the way people write stories?

writing to Twitter's 140 characters has helped people write tighter

Rob: I was thinking, beyond, Facebook and Twitter, about writing for the web, knowing that there will be comments after the article.

has expanded how we can grow our storytelling

projects that couldn't have been created previously-- slide shows, videos, interactive maps,

Mallary: Snowfall project by NYTimes was criticized"

Rob: when I write an article, I assume that I don't know everything, and that commenters will know more than me-- that they will add to the article.

Mallary: When know that journalists open up the conversation to the audience, they more that they know they can trust y ou and that we care about them.

Rob: I see the evolution of the site as being a community, not just

Rob: Are there some essential, key social media skills that every journalist should have

Don't say anything that you're not comfortable saying in front of your boss.

Twitter is an amazing tool for story tellers-- so is Facebook and Pinterest.

It's important to be on these sites so you know how to use them, know how they work.

Think about social media as a shared responsibility-- It's important to be tweeting and sharing on Facebook. Social media has changed the way that we think about publishing a story-- it's about sharing-- you'll really be able to see how that story takes on a new life and how people are interacting.

Rob: How is Facebook different from twitter

Facebook is a more visual platform. Posts with images get a lot more attention.

Can post multiple

News stations post anchors-- people like to see behind the scenes photos

Where does interest fit into the cosmology of the new media--

more visual, more news sites are starting to use it.

Include a picture then a link back to their website-- enabled them to get traffic--

Pinterest now drives more life category hits to buzzfeed than twitter

Rob: What about Pinterest for news, and things other than cupcakes and wedding bouquets.

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