Meta Process

The Conception Of The Simulated Newsroom:

Creating a simulated newsroom with the aim of using diversity as a tool for civic engagement. That was our main concept going into ‘Action Beyond Headlines’. It is a concept that, at its core, remains only at the conceptual level. It is hoped that future newsrooms look at this model and apply it, to encourage civic engagement in this post-truth world. Our newsroom is built on the premise that more diverse voices lead to better storytelling, which in turn leads to civic action from its audiences. The project arose from the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, a global conference gathering media students from universities all over the world. This year, the theme focuses on ‘Re-imagine storytelling in an age of distrust’, and we felt this newsroom was the best way to bridge that gap in trust.

Here, I describe how 12 diverse media students from all over the world came to conceive of this project.

Our group of 12 included one Venezuelan, three Americans, two Mexicans, a pair of Indians (one of whom studied in the UK), two Lebanese, a girl from Argentina, and a Palestinian. It gave us a wide range of perspectives readily available to us, which led to our ultimate idea of simulating our ideas within a newsroom environment.

Initially, however, we were prompted to conduct research about problems within storytelling and journalism. We split off into 3 different groups of 4, in which each group explored diverse trends, conflicts and possibilities within journalism and digital culture.

Our three problem areas were:

Media encouraging civic engagement
Diversity in the newsroom
Using non-traditional media to teach media literacy

The entire cohort then got together to compare research and identify areas and themes of common interest and concern. We found that diversity and civic engagement were two of the most prominent areas for further exploration, and we got to brainstorming as to how best to reconcile the ideas. The operative research question we decided on was “how to use diversity as a tool for civic engagement.”

The next day we explored practical solutions to address our problem. Jon, one of the American graduate students, remarked that imagining a ‘utopian’ newsroom would bring us to fertile terrain in which we could imagine and implement creative journalism practices. We then arrived at the idea of using the diversity and skills within the room to create a simulation of a newsroom that prefigured and reflected the values and ideals we envision. It was a perfect opportunity to use the diversity already present, considering the group consisted entirely of media-literate students, to simulate an ideal newsroom. To show off the diversity not only of demographic, but also of skill, we then drew up a chart listing our various skills within a news environment.

Discussion and deliberation would be central not only to the simulated newsroom, but also the way we conceptualized it. The newsroom then split up into groups again, to discuss how the newsroom would operate, what its guiding principles would be.

We came to some consensus after presenting our ideas up for everyone to see. We decided that it would be very much a community-focused organization, and we would include the community both at the beginning and end of our editorial process. “Listening labs” and feedback from communities would go a long way to increasing the diversity of our editorial output.

The next debate was what our simulated newsroom would actually produce. Surya, a graduate student from India, suggested that the cohort look at a specific social problem and base the newsroom’s output on that.

The issues up for debate were:

Diversity and immigration
Affordability of art
Climate change
Public protest
Environment in Salzburg
Women’s empowerment
Freedom of press
LGBTQI++
Democracy

After another democratic vote, the newsroom settled on women’s empowerment as our central topic. We then split up for the day to decide which individual components we would work on considering the diversity of our individual skill-sets.

The next day, we regrouped to discuss various individual components. Our third problem space, of using non-traditional media for media literacy, also very much made its case here. The brainstorming was very off-the-cuff — ideas flowed from every corner. Rana, from Lebanon, wanted to write articles and produce infographics on the state of women in her country. Maricarmen, from Mexico, decided to lead listening labs within the Academy to show how the community can be a part of our newsroom process. The Argentinean Delfina wanted to film both the listening lab, and our simulated newsroom deliberations, with a 360° video. Conor, from the University of Maryland, and I, an Indian studying in England, decided to write a Twine game based on the concept of women empowerment. There was no end of creativity in the room at that point.

Then, Jon suggested that we take our concept one step further, and document our process conceiving the simulated newsroom. This led to a further flurry of discussion, as we decided the various elements which would encompass this aspect of the newsroom. This included a business plan, a set of goals accompanied by a vision, and a ‘manifesto’ which would guide our editorial process.

We then assigned various roles to each group member and split up for the day. The next day, the simulated newsroom began in full swing. The entire editorial meeting the next day was recorded for the (simulated) community’s benefit as well.

Rana and Delfina shot a 360° video of a focus group comprised of Lebanese students. Maricarmen used her video skills to shoot interviews within the town of Salzburg about the topic of women’s rights. The group discussed how the Twine game would tie into our overall concept of community feedback, considering the entire game was based on actual experiences of women. Then, we updated each other about the processes of each sub-project, and left to finish them off. They are, of course, all available to be viewed within this very publication.