Watch: 3 lessons on inclusive journalism — collaborate, make space, be vulnerable
On Nov. 13, SFJ hosted a webinar with four journalists to explore inclusive ways to tell stories: Justin Agrelo of The Trace, Karim Shamsi-Basha of NJ.com, Erin Allday of the San Francisco Chronicle and her reporting partner, photographer Salgu Wissmath.
They are all 2024 SFJ Excellence in Features awards winners, in Division 3 of the Inclusion and Representation in Features category.
In the hourlong webinar, which you can watch here, the journalists shared best practices on finding stories deep within their communities, as well as gaining the trust of their sources — and their bosses.
Here are three lessons in particular that we loved:
1. Build trust through collaboration.
From Justin Agrelo’s first-place piece, Chicago Shooting Survivors, In Their Own Words, we saw the transformative power of treating community members as not only sources, but as collaborators.
Through community listening sessions and writing workshops, Justin and his colleagues helped five Chicagoans develop first-person essays that reveal the depth, nuance, and lived realities of survivors’ stories. The writers also were paid.
The result is an extraordinary project that challenges the typical relationship reporters have with the communities they cover.
As Justin shared about the experience of working with these community members: “I am not entitled to your story. Your story is your story. … And I want to care for your story as best as I can and tell something that is as reflective to your experience as possible.”
2. Lead with vulnerability.
Karim Shamsi-Basha shared how he approached documenting Arab American families through the lens of food in Dishes and dreams: For Arab American families living in N.J., home cooking means so much more.
In his story, Karim talked about his own immigrant experience and how he carries on his family’s own culinary traditions. It is through this shared understanding of home, loss, and longing that he was able to move conversations from food to deeper explorations of identity and belonging.
As Karim explained about how he was able to gain his subjects’ trust: “You show them you're just like them. You’re not an outsider coming in to expose something.”
3. Make space for subject agency.
In ‘It’s kind of like putting on armor’: How clothing can spark euphoria for transgender people, Erin Allday and Salgu Wissmath show us how inviting subjects’ feedback in their own representation leads to more authentic storytelling.
Through their collaborative approach, Salgu ensured that the trans people in the story felt comfortable with how they were being portrayed by showing them images during photo shoots and asking for their input. This was especially important given how trans individuals can experience gender dysphoria about certain angles or presentations of themselves.
As Salgu explained: “I really try to be as collaborative as possible when I’m photographing a particular community.”
Many thanks to everyone for sharing their time and experiences with our community! Please watch the webinar for more ideas.
And stay tuned for details about the 2025 SFJ Excellence in Features awards. The Inclusion and Representation in Features category will return, as well as many others!
Justin Agrelo
Justin is the Chicago community engagement reporter at The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom solely dedicated to covering the country's gun violence crisis. He reports on gun violence through a public health, people-centered lens, working as the bridge between The Trace’s local team and the Chicago communities that are most affected by gun violence. He previously worked at City Bureau, where he covered Chicago's ongoing eviction crisis, and as an editorial fellow for Mother Jones magazine.
Erin Allday
Erin covers gender and sexuality for the San Francisco Chronicle. Previously, she was a longtime health writer with a focus on covering infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and the COVID pandemic. A Southern California native, Erin has lived in the Bay Area since graduating from UC Berkeley. She joined the Chronicle in 2006.
Karim Shamsi-Basha
Karim emigrated from Damascus, Syria to the United States in 1984 at the age of 18. He attended the University of Tennessee and acquired a degree in mechanical engineering. After that, he pursued what he loved — photojournalism and writing. His photographic work has taken him to more than 50 countries including China, Turkey, Chile, Mexico, France and Italy. Karim’s work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Sports Illustrated, Coastal Living, People, Time, Southern Living, NJ.com, The Alabama News Center, al.com, Aramco World magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many others. Karim’s children’s book, “The Cat Man of Aleppo,” won a 2021 Caldecott Honor, a Middle East Book Award and five starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly among others. Currently, Karim works as a Food & Culture Columnist / Photographer with nj.com and The Star Ledger in New Jersey. Karim is a single father to three precious human beings: Zade, Dury and Demi. He lives by the motto “carpe diem,” seizing every moment of this beautiful life.
Salgu Wissmath
Salgu is a nonbinary Korean American photographer from Sacramento, California and the Communications Director for Diversify Photo. They are currently based in San Antonio, Texas. They were formerly a Hearst Photo Fellow at the San Antonio Express-News and the San Francisco Chronicle. They are dedicated to decolonizing visual storytelling by engaging in ethical storytelling by and for people of color and the queer community. Their personal work explores the intersections of mental health, queer identity and faith from a conceptual documentary approach. Salgu was recognized as AAJA’s 2022 Emerging Journalist of the Year and received the 2023 Curve Award for Emerging Journalists.