Decolonizing Journalism: Long Overdue
By Kenneth Gordon
What does the phrase ‘decolonizing journalism’ mean to you?
For Dan David, founder and former president of APTN News, it’s something “long overdue.”
He’s part of a new ‘Decolonizing Journalism’ course offered by the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.
To decolonize journalism, we must turn to the future of journalism, said lead instructor Shenaz Kermalli.
“I would really love for youth in general to be able to look at media in this country, and beyond, and to not feel despair, frustration, and anger,” she said. “I think this is what a lot of young people are feeling right now.”
Unifying divided groups such as Black, Francophone, Indigenous, and Muslim youth through shared news gathering spaces where ideas can burgeon, will disrupt Euro-centric practices long held, not only by large media conglomerates, but institutions as well, said Kermalli.
Disrupting these practices, we can begin to remove colonized thought in media and institutions bathed in colonialism and lateral violence while simultaneously promoting solidarity, she explained.
According to the course description, decolonization will be examined through four lenses: the Indigenous experience, early Black settlement, the Francophone space, and the Global South. Each area will be taught by leading journalists and journalism academics through webinars.
Kermalli believes solidarity is important for the future of racialized groups, not only with each other, but also working amongst non-racialized groups in a nonthreatening manner.
Based on his own experience, David believes decolonized media is driven by new approaches.
“We have to do things differently,” he said. “Instead of looking at our community the way that had been done, we actually get inside the community and look from the inside out.”
He believes this approach is essential when it comes to decolonizing the media.
“We actually reflect Canadian society in a lot of ways back to Canadians,” said David.
He said reporting the experiences of racialized people disrupts the status quo.
Although this approach may leave young Indigenous journalists wondering where they stand, David believes reporting empathetically and knowledgeably doesn’t run counter to journalism ethics, but rather, it adds a much-needed lens.
“In the end, we have to be journalists, he said. “We have to call it like it is as much as possible.”
It is imperative for youth to understand that Indigenous journalism can remain neutral, and still have the ability to produce observations through an Indigenous lens, he explained.
“We continue to be observers,” said David. “Observers of not only what’s going on in the rest of Canada, but what’s going on in the rest of our communities as well.”
As the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said, “The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”
David believes to decolonize journalists both young and old need to “disrupt.”
Students of the new class will have the opportunity to potentially publish an article with one of the editorial partners which includes: The Local, Ricochet, Ku’Ku’kwes News, The Green Line, Maisonneuve, Broadview, Africa is a Country, The Narwhal, La Converse, New Lines Magazine, The Rover, Inuit Art Quarterly, Indiginews, EFN Media and THIS magazine.
