Are you an Ask-hole?
Hey, Amplifiers!
Call-outs. Voxpops. Roundups. These are some of the first things people try out when they’re getting started with engaged journalism. They’re great! When you ask for an audience response of some sort in what we call a “call-out,” it can be a relatively low-lift way to get insights from your audience, and can even amplify voices from the broader community if done well.
But because these call-outs can follow such a simple template — as simple as posting a call-out on your website or social media asking for people’s input, questions, or first-person experiences — we run the risk of becoming “ask-holes.”
What’s an ask-hole, you ask? Our dear friend Jenn Brandel at Hearken, who introduced me to the clever term, says it happens when we do this:
“We ask for their story, we extract their experiences and concerns, and then we package and polish them up to share with audiences for our own financial gain. We don’t follow up. We don’t thank them. We don’t ask what they need. We just ask for what we need from them.”
Sounds pretty rude if you ask me! It also sounds like a great way to undermine your engagement mission right from the jump.?
If your first attempts to show your audience and community that you’re listening involve?you asking for something and not following up — or worse, not doing anything with what you learned — you’re probably not building a whole lot of trust.
So how do you make sure you don’t become that newsroom? Keep reading for some great tips and tools from across our industry to help you avoid this embarrassing pitfall!?
- Chelsea from America Amplified
Learn From The Experts
Don’t be an Askhole: Toward an ethical framework for engagement by Jenn Brandel from Hearken. The OG advice from a real OG. This Medium piece goes beyond explaining what it means to be an ask-hole and offers a full-on guide for laying an ethical foundation for your engagement work.
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Start Here: Engaging Your Communities for Better Journalism from Gather. Guidance for getting off to a strong start with your engagement efforts.
City Bureau’s Community Engagement Guidelines. City Bureau’s inspiring manifesto is also a fabulous recipe for ethical, full-circle engagement. If you follow these rules, you will almost certainly avoid ask-hole behavior.
Why Should I Tell You?: A Guide to Less-Extractive Reporting from the Center for Journalism Ethics. Ultimately, ”don’t be an ask-hole” is a fun way of saying “make your journalism less extractive.” So here’s a guide to that end.
How GBH is Showcasing Gen Z in Political Conversations
GBH in Boston has launched a YouTube Video series called "Politics IRL," featuring GenZ individuals talking about their politics and passions. The station is hoping the series will reach younger audiences who don't automatically go to GBH for their political news. Alexi Cohan, GBH's Digital Producer and lead producer on this series, talked to us about the project, its goals and what she is learning.
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