“They Always Get Our Story Wrong”: Addressing Social Justice Activists’ News Distrust Through Solidarity Reporting

Abstract

This study positions social justice activists’ objections to dominant reporting norms as a catalyst for critically reassessing these norms and their connection to diminishing trust in US journalism. Based on a conceptual application of discourse ethics to journalism and qualitative analysis of 28 in-depth interviews with social justice activists, we examine how participants experience and evaluate mainstream coverage of social justice, and why they think journalism could improve its trustworthiness through practices consistent with solidarity reporting norms.

Keywords

• activism
• journalism
• trust in news
• social justice
• solidarity