“Movement” Journalism Is Challenging the Media Status Quo
American journalism is in crisis mode. Local newsrooms are slashing staff or shuttering altogether, and the for-profit model that has supported most of the news industry is in danger of either imploding or sacrificing quality to cost-cutting pressures—not to mention the many challenges of maintaining integrity in the era of AI-generated content.
But amid this decline, a new approach is gaining traction: movement journalism.
Movement journalism seeks to be a powerful counter to mainstream reporting as it redefines the role of media in society by prioritizing and advocating for marginalized communities.
Where traditional journalism often operates with an ethic of removal or distance from its subject matter—a deliberate attempt to stay above the fray—movement journalism quite consciously puts itself into the debates and topics it covers. Rather than elevating the value of “objectivity,” movement journalism embraces the causes and issues it tackles.
The aim of this movement, to which more than a dozen journalistic organizations have publicly subscribed, is to create journalism that “doesn’t serve the interests of those perpetuating systemic injustices [but rather] serves those most impacted by them,” says Lara Witt. Witt is editor in chief of Prism, a journalistic enterprise founded in 2019. Its mission is in part to “tell stories from the ground up: to disrupt harmful narratives, and to inform movements for justice.”
Movement journalism consciously puts itself into the debates.
A few years ago, Prism launched its Reflective Journalism Project (RJP), a program that empowers journalists and media professionals to align their work with justice movements by challenging conventional ideas of objectivity and offering an alternative model that prioritizes media accountability.
Prism’s Reflective Journalism Project
The RJP meets what Witt says is a growing demand for journalism aligned with justice movements.
The project started as a one-on-one program for movement organizers and leaders to learn the tenets of movement journalism, particularly leaders and organizers from Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities in the United States.
So-called objectivity frequently upholds existing power structures.
The program has evolved into a three-part, in-depth interactive workshop that equips journalists, editors, and media professionals with the knowledge and resources they need to align their work with liberation movements.
This evolution was shaped under the guidance of Rikki Li, Prism’s developmental editor, who believes in the transformative potential of this training.
“Movement journalism is rigorous journalism, not a soapbox for activists,” Li contends. “It’s about fostering collaboration between journalists and grassroots movements and supporting journalism created by oppressed and marginalized people.”
Liberation over “Objectivity”
Challenging the “myth of objectivity,” Li says, is central to the RJP’s training, and crucial in understanding how movement journalism differs from traditional journalistic practices. Witt and Li argue that so-called objectivity frequently upholds existing power structures, failing to hold those in positions of power accountable.
Movement journalism, by contrast, asserts that all media has an inherent perspective and bias and that traditional journalism’s claim of objectivity and impartiality is fundamentally flawed.
“Every single reporter, editor, and journalistic entity has a perspective that cannot be set aside,” says Witt. “Objectivity is and always has been a myth crafted by now very dead White men.”
Accordingly, the RJP operates under a journalistic standard that is transparent about its values and committed to the liberation of disenfranchised communities.
In order to do this, Witt says, movement journalists must first recognize the biased, misleading narratives that dominate our media—for example, she explains, traditional outlets often accept police narratives as facts when reporting alleged crimes—and then dismantle those narratives by prioritizing the perspectives and experiences of marginalized people and communities.
In doing so, Witt and Li emphasize, the goal of movement journalism becomes not only exposing injustice but also liberating the oppressed.
A New Model for Media Accountability
Movement journalism takes a stand against injustice. It also seeks to hold traditional journalism to account for its biases, implicit or otherwise.
“We’re not interested in platforming the voices of ruling classes or police narratives, nor are we interested in regurgitating state official narratives,” says Witt. “In order for journalism to actually be an effective tool for liberation, rather than state-sanctioned propaganda, we have to hold power to account.”
“If we don’t fight now then what’s the point?”
Editors argue that this approach has already shown tangible results. For instance, after Prism journalist Alexandra Martinez reported on workplace issues at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, ALDF workers were able to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement, with the support of the reporting’s exposure of the issues. Similarly, Tina Vásquez’s investigation into the H-2A visa program for temporary agricultural workers revealed exploitative conditions and wage theft, and resulted, the editors say, in government actions to recover stolen wages and implement new worker protections.
Empowering Journalists for Liberation
The future of journalism, says Li, is “empowered” journalists who refuse to maintain the status quo and instead use their platforms to be agents of change.
Witt and Li see a future where RFP-trained journalists align their work with the pursuit of justice and liberation, and incorporate those values into their writing, newsrooms, and personal lives.
They are working to expand the program’s reach and accessibility by exploring partnerships with like-minded organizations and finding ways to lower the program’s cost to expand access to this model of journalism. “We want to be able to turn journalism into a tool [for ordinary citizens],” says Li. Amid the ongoing decimation of traditional and especially local news, movement journalism offers a different theory of what journalism can and should be—one that, Witt and Li argue, is more relevant to the realities of oppressed people.
Movement journalism poses a direct challenge to long-standing journalistic values, which many in media will argue are needed. But Witt counters that those models have failed the people whose struggles journalism should be addressing.
“If we don’t fight now,” Witt argues, “then what’s the point?”
Jennifer Johnson, for Non Profit Quarterly
