Black Lives Matter, Me Too, LGBTQ & You: Telling the stories of social justice in the 21st century. Combining age-old reporting techniques and digital technology—from android and iPhones to DSLR cameras—students learn to capture the faces, voices and narratives of organizers and participants of some of today’s most visible social movements. Included in the course is an examination of the history of the media’s role in advancing social movements. For anyone who wants to learn to tell professional quality stories that matter—from print to digital platforms.

Transcript

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Kristy Kotek: Okay. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our virtual COURSE TELLING social justice stories.

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Kristy Kotek: I’m Christine codec and I’m the Director of Alumni Relations at Roosevelt university but a little bit of the campus with me here today, since we can’t meeting in person, but thank you all so much for joining a few quick reminders wine. I asked everyone just please keep your mute.

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Kristy Kotek: Your mic muted throughout the course this will just make sure that everyone can hear PROFESSOR JOHN Felton clearly and it eliminates all of that background noise.

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Kristy Kotek: You can certainly feel free. And we certainly encourage you to ask questions throughout the course via the chat box will be trying to address those.

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Kristy Kotek: Throughout the next hour, and there’ll be also some time for Q AMP. A at the end.

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Kristy Kotek: I’m also I think so many of us are near experts at zoom. At this time, but there are two views in zoom and up at the top right of your screen.

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Kristy Kotek: You can see, you can toggle between a gallery view and speaker view, I highly encourage you to use the speaker view for this course.

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Kristy Kotek: Because PROFESSOR JOHN. JOHN is going to be sharing his screen and I want that’s going to give you the best of view of all of the great content that he’s going to be sharing over the next hour.

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Kristy Kotek: I also have to take a moment I will quickly and pause because today is a historic day for Roosevelt. It’s our 75th anniversary this year and 75 years ago on this very day April 24 is really kind of when it all began

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Kristy Kotek: At responding sparling who at the time was the president of the YMCA.

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Kristy Kotek: The YMCA college and 62 faculty members walked out in solidarity in in a stance to make higher education more democratic.

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Kristy Kotek: At that time, the YMCA board was putting a lot of pressure and sparling to put in place some discriminatory enrollment practices, which he did not believe in

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Kristy Kotek: And that is what caused him and this brave group this brief group of 62 faculty members to walk out and they started Roosevelt college with the goal to make education accessible for all. So that is where it all started.

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Kristy Kotek: That is what makes it possible for us all to be gathered here today. And that is really one of the reasons why we wanted to bring you a topic that is centered on social justice. So Happy Birthday Roosevelt.

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Kristy Kotek: And then next I want to introduce our very talented faculty member john sound. He’s a professor in journalism. He was also recently honored as a Fulbright Scholar.

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Kristy Kotek: He’s been a faculty member at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. He was a reporter for The Chicago Tribune and Washington Post.

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Kristy Kotek: And is also a national correspondent for The New York Times. So, JOHN We are very honored to have you here today. Thank you so much. I’m going to go ahead and turn it over to you.

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John Fountain: Thank you. Christy Welcome everybody. It’s so good to see you. And thank you for joining.

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John Fountain: Us as and Christy and I and Roosevelt University. For those of you, for whom this is your alma mater. Welcome back. We wish that we could have welcomed you in the building, but I’m sure you understand and hopefully everybody is is staying safe.

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John Fountain: I’m going to talk about telling social justice stories and I should tell you that I am

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John Fountain: The grandson of a Pentecostal preacher, so I can lecture, I can go on and on and on and on. And I don’t necessarily want to do that. So you have the option.

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John Fountain: Of sending Christy a note and asking questions and I find that when I’m teaching the best kinds of

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John Fountain: Classes that we have end up being conversations, even if I’m the one who dominates that conversation. So feel free to to chime in.

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John Fountain: In terms of sending a note with any questions you may have. And I’ll be more than happy to to answer them.

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John Fountain: But I’m on tap. Today is a discussion and brief introduction to to have the five social movements impacted by the social movement press is defined by

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John Fountain: Greg Oscar tag, who is the author of the major texts that we use in this class will be talking more about to ask or text, text.

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John Fountain: Those movements abolitionists press. We’ll talk some about that we may get into women’s suffrage press depending on how time goes

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John Fountain: The gay and lesbian press. We won’t deal with today that we do talk about that extensively in our class the underground GI press and the Vietnam War.

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John Fountain: And the environmental justice press are all part of our discussion, our exploration and are telling social justice stories class.

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John Fountain: Of course, this was not would not be a journalism class if we didn’t do an intro to fundamentals of journalism and I know there’s so much talk today about so called fake news.

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John Fountain: I don’t know any fake journalist. I’m certainly not one of those. And I’ve never met a fake journalist in my life. We’ll talk a little bit about that.

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John Fountain: About the absence of fake news and the need for a press, particularly to get these this day. And in these times, and then I will offer

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John Fountain: My final thoughts. So again, rather than this being a monologue. I’m certainly happy to go on and on and on.

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John Fountain: And with the technology today, to some degree, the kind of have to do that if we were in class, I would probably start off by asking you a question like,

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John Fountain: Are there stories that you don’t see covered by the mainstream press. I’m assuming that many of you would say yes, there are

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John Fountain: And I would ask you, what kinds of stories aren’t you seeing covered by the mainstream press. The truth is, when I was at the New York Times. I think the New York Times still has it saying

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John Fountain: That it’s all the news that’s fit to print. In other words, the New York Times has all the news that they believe is fit to print at least as they’re saying

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John Fountain: Having been a national correspondent, they’re having worked at other newspapers, I am convinced, I know that there are many, many stories that do not make it into the daily platter of mainstream American journalism.

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John Fountain: And there are reasons for that. But I think that it makes a compelling case for the need for an independent press for an independent press that operates outside of the mainstream news media.

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John Fountain: We’ll talk some more about that, and about the importance of telling your own stories. So as I get started I’m going to do a brief intro is over.

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John Fountain: That over provides an overview of the class. And that tells you a little bit about my passion and what we try to teach and convey and expect our students to gain from this course.

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John Fountain: So I begin with in visibility. It has always been among my greatest fears having grown up on the west side of Chicago and a place called K Town and 16th and Kaminski

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John Fountain: In visibility this intangible yet undeniable wall that at times has existed between the World and Me that disconnects certain people from the rest of humanity that permits, some of us to be deemed as being expendable.

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John Fountain: The state of invisibility and voice listeners from the curse of the form the curse of the underclass it lies at the root of the ability of a status quo to write some people off in society to carry on in their own world with a kind of numbing indifference.

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John Fountain: This could be said of the people who formed the heart of the People’s press explored in this course through an examination of five social justice movements in America by words as a journalist myself as a writer. I

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John Fountain: Learn to be seen.

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John Fountain: Indeed, I discovered that to be heard is essential to the process of shedding what I call this kind of Cloak of Invisibility and I discovered this truth that are still raise matter. Our stories, your stories matter.

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John Fountain: Stories of the poor. The disenfranchise the shunned the disabled, the elderly, immigrants those calm and the torture as well web of human trafficking gay, lesbian queer straight the invisible.

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John Fountain: And I believe this, that, that our stories.

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John Fountain: For equality sake, for justice sake must be told him that we ourselves must tell them that we can’t simply wait on the mainstream press to show up at our doorstep says show up in our neighborhoods.

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John Fountain: We have the ability, particularly with the technology today to not only tell us stories, but to publish them.

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John Fountain: And I’ll tell you that nothing has reiterated that to me more than the exploration of the social movement press is presented in this class in our texts by

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John Fountain: Bob us to tag. It is a is a sociologist and a journalist his book is called people’s movements people’s press the journalism of social justice movements.

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John Fountain: You’ll get an introduction to telling social justice stories today replete with a few visual aids, a short video or two if we have time. And at the end, this wouldn’t be going back to school. If you didn’t get a homework assignment.

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John Fountain: should you choose to accept this mission. That’s exactly what I’m going to offer. So as we get started let me say that

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John Fountain: Students in this course.

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David Graves-Pomeranz: With me, I already graduated. Can I participate

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John Fountain: Yes, you can. Yes, indeed.

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John Fountain: So as we get started let me say the students in this course right several assignments focusing on a current social justice issue or movement or their own choosing.

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John Fountain: So I don’t assign students what to cover. I think that we write better we’re more impassioned more committed to the things that we care most about

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John Fountain: In addition to reporting those stories and writing them ally narrative journalistic feature style.

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John Fountain: The mechanics of which we also discussed and exploring this course students also get the opportunity to write a first person that say at the end on a subject that they’re choosing a rather than ranting, it is a thoughtful fusion of sa narrative and reportage which students record.

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John Fountain: In the end is podcasts and our students who are enrolled through the honors course, it is not as course this semester.

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John Fountain: They are in the process of recording their product their podcasts right now. The other part of the course focuses on journalism fundamentals and mechanics, but mostly on the role of the independent press on social justice, while also asking the nagging question.

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John Fountain: What’s my role as a writer. What’s my role as a citizen. What is my role as a thinker.

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John Fountain: That’s what we ask

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John Fountain: So I am going to go ahead and

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John Fountain: Get started. So that’s a copy. As you can see, that’s a copy of the cover of the book by

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Kristy Kotek: John we’ve lost your sound here for just a moment.

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John Fountain: Still there.

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John Fountain: Technology segment.

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John Fountain: I, I laughed, and I say there’s so many folks who aren’t having church church now and and services are online. And I said, I wonder what folks are going to do when the internet crashes. Well, we’ll just sign back on.

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John Fountain: And continue as usual and go on the social moving press Bob after taxes, we have to add agitate educate mobilize confronted more. In short, we have to

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John Fountain: Constitute ourselves as a political subject a constituency, a social movement. In other words, he sees individuals themselves as kinds of many social movements.

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John Fountain: Social movements. The principal vehicle for advancing the cause of Americans whose concerns and interest lay outside the accepted political boundaries of the day.

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Kristy Kotek: Hey, JOHN I just want to cutting it looks like we lost your screen share

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Kristy Kotek: Of your chair again.

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John Fountain: Let’s see.

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Kristy Kotek: Perfect. Thank you.

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John Fountain: All right.

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John Fountain: And by the way, if anyone wants

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John Fountain: To put Christie, perhaps in a precarious position. But if you guys want to copy of

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John Fountain: The day I’m more than happy to provide PDFs and I’ll send them to Christie and she can send them to anyone who would like a copy. So you can have a copy for yourself. What has been the most important tool apply to almost every one of these social movements.

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John Fountain: Their journals social movement journalism or the social movement press

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John Fountain: What are some of the conventional measures of journal success according the asset tag the circulation their financial stability, their longevity and yet the author contends

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John Fountain: And this is really important that the social movement press, including journals of what may look like on the face.

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John Fountain: At the time is being a marginal importance of marginal significance have played a critical role in the constant process of reinventing American society, we see that in all of the each of the five movements that we look at.

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John Fountain: He talks about in raises this very important question that a lot of journalists today. Talk about objectivity and I asked my students

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John Fountain: What does objectivity mean. And then I asked him, I say, you know, ask you, even though you can’t necessarily answer right now. But think about this. What is objectivity. What does that mean,

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John Fountain: And can we be objective and I 30 years in as a journalist. I can tell you that I have never written an objective story in my life. And what I tell my students is that there is an objective truth out there somewhere. But the truth is,

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John Fountain: I see the world through brown eyes, I see the world in part from my perspective of having grown up poor on the west side of Chicago.

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John Fountain: I can’t dismiss who I am from what I do as a journalist and I say to students about send you out right now on Michigan Avenue are and why bash and ask you to do a kind of man or woman on the street interview.

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John Fountain: There are some of you who would not talk to anyone who’s homeless. Most of you. In fact, and I don’t judge you for that.

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John Fountain: But most of you. In fact, most of us talk to people who look like us, people with whom we’re comfortable. So we kind of

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John Fountain: You know, those of us who are mature and truly understand what our role is as journalists, what we seek to do is to be fair and balanced.

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John Fountain: We understand where the notion of objectivity fits but asked attack contends that that term objectivity and unbiased became media buzz words only as a direct offshoot

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John Fountain: Of the concentration of media ownership and he talks about been back Dickie in the media monopoly, a book I read many, many years ago in college that

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John Fountain: Corporations dominated us mass media with the biggest media merger being $340 million. He goes down two by 2000 the 10

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John Fountain: The media giants had shrunk to five, a minute $350 billion merger between AOL and Time Warner, what’s the effect. And this is what’s really important

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John Fountain: The more subtle, but much more powerful form of censorship, the frames news entertainment advertising. So is it limits the options for social change to those that are consistent with corporate interests, what all that means is

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John Fountain: If there is one company that owns ESPN and owns Disney and owns other stations and other companies, chances are,

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John Fountain: That company or even that news organization that is affiliated with or owned by that company is going to be less likely to be critical of itself, less likely to engage and kind of

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John Fountain: Social justice social movement press and so the author makes the case that we need these what I call dissonant chords that speak truth to power that challenge the status quo.

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John Fountain: The author surmise that the methods of advertising is a fundamental idea that the route to happiness and the better life is through buying stuff, not through any kind of community collective collective action. I’m sure many of you.

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John Fountain: can certainly understand that that premise. And we see that in play in in our society in life. And so the author argues, making the case for the social independent social press

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John Fountain: Movement press social justice press that the independent media that which is born out of a social movement forms of kind of counter culture.

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John Fountain: And the most literal sense that culture based in community and individual creativity that run counter to the dominant corporate culture and mass consumption.

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John Fountain: That counterculture the author contains will be critical, critical is crucial to whatever the future holds for social justice.

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John Fountain: at Roosevelt. We often talk about Roosevelt University embracing the social justice mantra and for our journalism students. What that means is

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John Fountain: Being engaged and in our convergence journalism project, looking at, for instance, visiting Flint, Michigan and examining the water crisis or examining the issue of murder in Chicago or this semester, a group of students are looking at the case of

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John Fountain: murdered women in Chicago.

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John Fountain: Most of the African American who are believed to be victims of one or more serial killers and so rather than doing a story simply about the the murder them.

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John Fountain: And we’re doing that in part about the slings themselves and and this idea of a serial killer being in Chicago, but idea, our social justice component of that is to humanize the stories of these women.

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John Fountain: Who are who have are often vilified

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John Fountain: Because of some mistake or the way that some say they may have lived

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John Fountain: And so we take this advocacy approach the social justice approach that all lives matter and we are seeking to bring some justice and some humanity.

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John Fountain: By doing that story, so we’ll keep you posted on how that is how that goes.

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John Fountain: Social Movement journalism six to promote ideas not profits. The challenge is corporate control of media and that just to justify it.

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John Fountain: To address readers as members of communities to cover social movements as participants not observers to make change not business.

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John Fountain: What does the author contain he contends awesome tag that none of these none of the indicators or predictors of the impact of social movement press are typically the same

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John Fountain: indicators for a press today, like if I talk to my editors at any of my papers about circulation financial stability and longevity.

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John Fountain: Those are real indicators of the viability and the impact of a current newspaper, the author, the author argues that doesn’t work with social media press that oftentimes for social movement press, what happens is

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John Fountain: They don’t last very long. Or they don’t have necessarily a huge circulation, but the impact is immeasurable

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John Fountain: I’m going to get to talk a little bit about

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John Fountain: The Abolitionist and this is

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John Fountain: Really a critical part of this text and foundational um, and I’m not sure I completely understood that until I began to read this author’s book I’m

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John Fountain: I love history. You know I love journalism. I love writing, but as the author lay the foundation in terms of how the abolitionist movement was started and how it gained steam. And he pointed to

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John Fountain: The folks who were

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John Fountain: Incredible thinkers

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John Fountain: Who were who were incredibly brave at the time to put their thoughts about this side idea at the end slavery was the law of the land.

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John Fountain: And when you could be killed for saying something different, who not only spoke up, but also put their words and their thoughts into writing, among them the two

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John Fountain: Fathers of the social movement press for for abolitionists, or the two guys on the screen. William Lloyd Garrison And of course, someone who’s called the Lion of Anacostia Frederick Douglass, who was an abolitionist a runaway slave of

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John Fountain: And founder of the North Star, Frederick Douglass.

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John Fountain: Escaped from slavery. I believe in 1838

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John Fountain: And he quickly became

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John Fountain: A outspoken about this institution called slavery and there was some concern that his former owner would

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John Fountain: Seek to have him brought back to the south. And so there were some of his friends and Frederick Douglass fearing for his life fled to

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John Fountain: To Europe actually went to Ireland and then to England, and when he was there he had he befriended folks and a number of his friends got together and decided to buy his freedom and they urge Frederick Douglass to stay in Europe and not to return to the United States and and face the

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John Fountain: Potential of still being

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John Fountain: Either being killed or brought back to slavery and Frederick Douglass said there were 3 million of my brothers and sisters who are still in slavery. So I’ve got to go back

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John Fountain: And one of the first things he did when he got back, he published north star weekly that lasted for years under that name in 1851 Douglas changed.

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John Fountain: The name to Frederick Douglass papers and later Douglas monthly publication on the one, then another lasted 16 years, despite the existence of Garrison’s numerator Douglas believe there could be no substitute for a high quality.

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John Fountain: Black apple. Listen, this newspaper. Again, this idea, this notion that is important to share to tell your own story. And I’m going to share another screen with you that gets to the heart of Frederick Douglass and

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John Fountain: What was really beneath his passion for wanting to

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John Fountain: To continue to write, despite the threat to life and limb.

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John Fountain: Can you guys see that screen.

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Yasmin R: Yes.

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Judith Coleman: It may be loading.

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John Fountain: Tried

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John Fountain: Technology

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John Fountain: Will come back to it.

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John Fountain: We will come back.

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John Fountain: So we’ll come back to that. If we can see Frederick Douglass pay the cost of publishing independent press

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John Fountain: He mortgaged his house in 1848 in the 1850s. He spent half of his time on the road speaking years readers to engage in electoral politics. And eventually he separated ideologically from garrison among the reasons.

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John Fountain: Frederick Douglass believe the US Constitution was not necessarily a pro slavery document and other words he believed that the words the founding fathers had created

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John Fountain: Apply to All men so he believed that the Constitution could be welded in on behalf of

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John Fountain: Slaves to wanted emancipation Frederick Douglass. The two most influential abolitionists newspapers or the liberated by Garrison, who was

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John Fountain: Obviously, published by by a white man with black leadership and the North Star, published by Douglas a black man with white leadership.

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John Fountain: Between both newspapers blacks and whites participated and sustained racially integrated political debate.

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John Fountain: And may have been the author contains the early 19th century power of the spoken and written word that helps sustain the discussion between

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John Fountain: Within the population Garrison’s liberated was literally a one man operation that never had a scoop and that is like unbelievable unheard of in this day and time a scoop a new scoop is simply breaking news

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John Fountain: And Garrison’s Liberator never had that in fact it rarely had any news at all. So what did he write about you wrote about the institution of slavery. You wrote about the laws here about movement.

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John Fountain: It consistently lost money the liberated. It had a peak of 3000 subscribers. Some of you may have more Facebook friends and that

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John Fountain: It was a weekly started from 1831 to December 29 1865. Why did it in 1865 because the reason that garrison started the newspaper have been accomplished.

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John Fountain: He’s not publishing on the eve of the 13th amendment of the evolution of abolition of slavery and yet the Liberator even with those, those, those

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John Fountain: By those indicators which would be miniscule compared to even a weekly publication by today’s standards. The Liberator remains one of the most influential newspapers in United States history.

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John Fountain: It’s uncompromising voice beyond abolition abolition is to inspire and inform inspired early women’s rights activists it spawned the term Gastonia

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John Fountain: Meaning the most militant form of abolition ism. He was not the first abolitionists publication, but in many ways is impacting the discussion of ending slavery was unparalleled. Now this video doesn’t show. I’m going to hurl my laptop on my lap. When I’m pretty sure this

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John Fountain: Lloyd Garrison felt that he was destined to do great things. But he had no idea how to get there.

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John Fountain: In 1820 he was 22 years old newly arrived in the city from his hometown of Newburyport William Lloyd Garrison was impoverished Northerner

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John Fountain: Who lost his parents when he was young and he came across the issue really by Charles and worked very hard for for 30 years publish a paper almost every week by had himself to fighting against slavery, the entire narrative of his life is surprising. He

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John Fountain: He was on the outside. Always. He came from very little eventually apprentice to print printing press, and

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John Fountain: Really had a talent for type setting William look Garrison’s argument is always going to change hearts and minds that if you just change the laws.

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John Fountain: It’s, it’s not actually going to change anything, fundamentally,

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John Fountain: And as it turned out, the end of the end of the abolitionist era was they did away with slavery. They changed the mods, but they hadn’t changed hearts and minds really and what the civil rights era does almost a century later, is they change hearts and minds and

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John Fountain: I think it’s a

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John Fountain: It will always be irrelevant story because because what the abolitionists did

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John Fountain: Only 50 years after the birth of the Republic was they held out a vision of a more perfect society CMS to Douglas

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John Fountain: Join me

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John Fountain: I urge

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John Fountain: You have a gift.

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John Fountain: So you really do you flatter me, no.

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John Fountain: No, I don’t. Garrison was a mentor for Frederick Douglass and and loved him dearly. I think like a son and then Frederick Douglass.

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John Fountain: Went away and came to disagree with some of Garrison’s ideas and philosophies and was incredibly painful for a garrison, and they had a very public

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John Fountain: Rift and I’ve been a big argument publicly that was very painful for both of them. And it’s this kind of intersection of the political and personal that I think makes this story so compelling the great kind of genius simple genius of what garrison did was that he

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John Fountain: put himself in someone else’s shoes, he, he saw very early on. There is no difference between any man and himself that there is no man is a man and

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John Fountain: He, he took the issue of abolition entirely personally because he just said for a second, you know, imagine yourself in the shoes of someone has enslaved it all just kind of this completely simple to him from there.

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John Fountain: So again, it talks about the piece really explores the passion of garrison his motivations for for starting as publication. There were lots of other abolitionist publications and I won’t get

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John Fountain: Into all of them, but I think it’s important to note that the Anglo African newspaper in 1859

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John Fountain: Born out of the insistence of black abolitionists that they have their own newspapers. They said, We need a press oppressive our own and says no outside voice however gifted in the eloquence can tell our story. Don’t outside I, however, penetrating can see

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John Fountain: Our wants our way of life. And so it remains critical for insiders to tell their story. When I was at growing up on the

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John Fountain: West Side of Chicago. The Chicago Tribune. Once upon a time, did a series of stories, called the American Millstone and the American millstone explored my community, which is commonly know on

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John Fountain: And they called it the millstone because they said that we were the millstones draped around America neck.

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John Fountain: That essentially that we would never amount to anything. You know, we didn’t have middle class values and they essentially essentially made the case for social triage.

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John Fountain: Said that we were part of the permanent underclass. I’m not saying that those stories that they found that the people who live there didn’t exist.

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John Fountain: But that was not that was not the totality of the people live there. In fact, I was living there at the time, and no reporter, talk to me or my larger family or many of the friends that I do.

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John Fountain: And what I say about that is that it is, it is essential, again, making the case that the insider looking in rather than the outsider coming and looking in.

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John Fountain: Is a is a valid perspective. And I think one that the mainstream media too often continues to miss and which makes the case again for us to tell our own stories, even for

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John Fountain: Not just the fact of leaving a record that we exist it. But this idea of fostering social movements of creating social justice.

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John Fountain: The two most influential abolitionists newspapers liberated get by garrison

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John Fountain: Both newspapers were incredibly influential

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John Fountain: I’m going to end the abolitionist

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John Fountain: Discussion talk just a little bit about women’s suffrage. Does anyone have a question that they sent to Christie Christie. You have any questions.

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John Fountain: Any questions.

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Kristy Kotek: We haven’t had any questions come in at this time john

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Okay.

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John Fountain: Feel free to fire away. Even if it’s off script. I’ll take a question women’s suffrage women’s suffrage is the right of women.

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John Fountain: To vote in elections, a person who advocates the extension suffrage, particularly women. It’s called obviously a sub suffragist

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John Fountain: Women’s suffrage movement began in 1848 what a women’s rights convention.

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John Fountain: Was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Many of you are well aware of the history, the cynical falls meeting was not the first and supportive women’s rights, but later viewed by Sephora. Just as a meeting that launched the movement.

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John Fountain: For the next 50 years women’s suffrage supporters work to educate public, the public about women’s suffrage, under the leadership of Susan B. Anthony

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John Fountain: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other women’s rights pioneer suffragists circulated petitions and lobby Congress passed the constitution to in franchise women.

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John Fountain: Women’s suffrage. The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote when I’m exploring this in class. Of course, we get into much more depth and condensing some of this 15th amendment.

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John Fountain: Prohibits federal government states and the visitors from denying the citizen, the right to vote based on

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John Fountain: That races citizens race, color, or previous condition of servitude. So in other words, black men got the right to vote, 14th Amendment gratis citizenships

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John Fountain: To all persons born a naturalized in the US, which included former slaves recently freed. Why am I saying all of that, because at the bottom of this. It’s noted the women’s the women’s right to vote came 55 years after slavery ended and 50 years after Black men were given the right

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John Fountain: So it was hard fought and Frederick Douglass was among those who was an advocate for women’s suffrage.

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John Fountain: As well as this woman Sojourner Truth.

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John Fountain: Sojourner Truth was born around 1797 in Ulster County, New York.

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John Fountain: Originally named Isabella bomb free truth was sold at 11 years old, along with a flock of sheep for $100 Sojourner Truth wrote about her life as a child.

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John Fountain: In slavery and she talked about experiencing sexual abuse and continued meetings and weddings by her slave owner

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John Fountain: Truth. Let her master in 1826 one year before the abolition of slavery in New York.

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John Fountain: And eventually became a freed slave after truth became a free woman. She had the courage to go to court to challenge the legality.

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John Fountain: Of her son being sold into slavery. She was successful against so many odds, which is what makes that court case. So on this.

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John Fountain: Inspired by religion, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843

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John Fountain: The following year, she joined forces with abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison Sojourner Truth became a traveling preacher. But also, she was an early women’s rights advocate. And so she spoke very forcefully for that as well.

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John Fountain: In 1850 she published her memoirs, and the following year truth delivered her famous speech at The Ohio women’s rights convention.

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John Fountain: speech was later retitle and I a woman. And it was so powerful, in part because it talks about the quality of work was executed by people in general.

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John Fountain: That people who were free and unfree work just as hard, whether they were men or women.

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John Fountain: Following the outbreak of the Civil War truth recruited troops for the Union Army and met with President Lincoln in 1864 who gave her permission to become a counselor at Friedman’s village.

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John Fountain: Sojourner Truth made a singular contribution during the Civil War. She agitated for black people to be able to fight for their own freedom.

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John Fountain: Truth continued to campaign for abolition and women’s rights until her death. On November 26 1883 in 2009 a statue of Sojourner Truth was unveiled at the US Capitol commemorating her legacy Sojourner Truth was one of the gutsiest women in American history black

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John Fountain: And I’m going to show just one more video

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John Fountain: Was a great inspirational leader. She rallied hundreds of thousands of women, Susan B. Anthony changed the course of history for women in the United States at the beginning of her of her dedication to women’s rights. She was much despite

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John Fountain: Her arrest for voting in the 1872 presidential elections and eventual trials pave the way for Women’s Political Rights, what I’ve been shipper

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John Fountain: With a tremendous thing. Susan B. Anthony was born in 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. She was from a tight knit Quaker family who believed in education and the Quaker Meeting House men and women both equally. So Susan B. Anthony, but this was

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John Fountain: The reality was most women were uneducated to not own property had few legal rights and we’re subservient to men and Susan B. Anthony wanted equal rights under the law for both sexes.

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John Fountain: Anthony met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the architect of the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, and the dual team.

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John Fountain: They were responsible for every right we have as women today stand had the intellectual rich and she has a way with words and Anthony has the beginning the vision of what it meant to build a movement.

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John Fountain: It was 1872 that Anthony Costa national sensation when she voted in a presidential election illegally.

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John Fountain: Or trial had an all male jury and Anthony was not permitted to speak on her own defense. The trial was raised her vote didn’t count but she got great publicity value out of it.

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John Fountain: Anthony was fine $100 which she never she did, however, continue to spread the word on women’s rights throughout the US and Europe.

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John Fountain: She appeared in front of every Congress from 1869 until 1906 years she died. Women were finally given the right to vote in 19 2016 years after Susan B. Anthony dive. I think that every February 15 women in this country should recognize that as Susan B. Anthony his birthday and just

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John Fountain: Part of our discussion in terms of the social justice movements will offer some concluding thoughts.

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Kristy Kotek: On

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John Fountain: This point in

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Kristy Kotek: Time we did have one question. How many yes

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Kristy Kotek: Very. Yes. Can you comment on differentiating between a good journalist and a good writer.

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Oh, wow.

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John Fountain: Wow.

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John Fountain: That’s tough. I think that

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John Fountain: One of the things that that

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John Fountain: We talked about in journalism school is nine fundamental principles of journalism and among them are the top three

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John Fountain: That is journalists first obligation is to the truth.

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John Fountain: Number two, that a journalist first loyalty is to the citizens or to the readers. And number three, that journalism is a discipline of the verification of fact.

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John Fountain: So,

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John Fountain: We seek to as a journalists.

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John Fountain: To occupy that space to fill that role those fundamental principles I used to say that I will be

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John Fountain: A writer till the day I die.

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John Fountain: Truth is, I will be a journalist, because I will continue to practice those fundamental principles of journalism every writer is not necessarily a journalist, because as a writer. I could be. I could engage in fiction. I could be a fiction writer.

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John Fountain: And not that that isn’t important writing and in an important genre that can capture life and convey stories and emotion and tragedy and loss and even justice social justice issues.

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John Fountain: But journalists were a different a different hat. So it is

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John Fountain: I think the same kind of dedication to craft is is required. So I think we’re, we’re, we’re, we are

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John Fountain: We are related in that sense. And sometimes I don’t know when I’m wearing the hat of a writer.

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John Fountain: Sometimes, depending on what I’m writing. I don’t know that I’m necessarily wearing my journalistic hat as well. So there is a difference. But I think that what’s required

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John Fountain: Is commitment to craft understanding what the, what the, the point of your, your journey in terms of what you’re doing as a writer or as a journalist and being completely committed to it so

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John Fountain: That’s my best answer.

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John Fountain: Anyone else, any other questions.

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John Fountain: Daniela has iPhone raised ahead.

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John Fountain: I assume there’s another question.

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Daniela’s iPhone: Okay, can you hear me.

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Daniela’s iPhone: Yes. Yes, hello, Professor.

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Daniela’s iPhone: Hi really liked when you were talking about the objectivity.

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Daniela’s iPhone: Yes. And maybe, you know, I think it’s a little bit out of the like journalistic context but

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Daniela’s iPhone: What can you do to stay objective, because you know

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Daniela’s iPhone: I just applied for a new job. So I’m hoping I’m going to get it. So with me like

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Daniela’s iPhone: Yes. And I’m going to work with domestic violence survivors. So there’s going to be like a summary different you know groups of full of women, how can I stay objective.

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Daniela’s iPhone: You know according like the maybe the race, the economic background or

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Daniela’s iPhone: Because that’s what I have to stay objective right to not be judgmental.

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Daniela’s iPhone: So what do you think about it.

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John Fountain: I think that that’s a wonderful question, and it is it is complex, in some ways, but I think there are at least for me, there is a simple answer. One is

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John Fountain: One of the things that keeps me grounded and keeps me from being judgmental is that I say to myself there before the grace of God go lie.

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John Fountain: And to understand that we’re all human and that we all make mistakes and, you know, so I don’t have the ability, nor the right to judge someone for the decisions that they have made.

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John Fountain: That I think I might not have made because I wasn’t in those circumstances. So maybe, maybe, maybe I would have made those decisions. So I just, I try to remember that I’m not judge, Judge, Jury, and Executioner. The other thing is

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John Fountain: One of the things I say to students is journalism and I don’t think many of our jobs required that we leave our common sense or our perspective on the curb side of American journalism and so

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John Fountain: I don’t know that I try to anymore to be objective. What I tried to do is to seek fairness and balance. So if someone in writing a story and someone accuses someone or something.

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John Fountain: Then, in fairness in an effort to be balanced. I need to go to the person who the allegation has been made about and give them an opportunity to respond.

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John Fountain: Part of being objective is quote unquote objective is realizing that I had biases that

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John Fountain: I may feel more comfortable around some people I may have a penchant for the urban story.

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John Fountain: And understanding that there are

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John Fountain: No such thing as urban, suburban or rural or rural stories or white or black stories that it’s the human story. And so it is realizing that we all have biases.

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John Fountain: And not ignoring it you know someone, someone said, someone said to me, said this a couple of times. To me it. I don’t think there’s any harm.

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John Fountain: They said, when I look at you. I don’t see color.

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John Fountain: And I said, You should get your eyes. Check that because I certainly see a black man when I look in the mirror and there’s nothing wrong with that. The issue is

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John Fountain: When we see color and we make decisions about what that means. So that’s the thing that we want to eliminate

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John Fountain: There’s nothing wrong with seeing the world as it is, but realizing that we have biases and and trying to seek to be fair, in spite of them. If I recognize what my biases are chances are, I’m going to, I’m going to be fair to people.

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John Fountain: Hope that helps.

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Daniela’s iPhone: Yes, thank you so much for for sort of. Thank you.

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John Fountain: very welcome. Anyone else, any other hands.

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Kristy Kotek: You did have one more question. It come in the chat box.

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Kristy Kotek: Okay, again, do you think that there has been a decline in good journalism in recent years.

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Kristy Kotek: No themes that all too often. What’s gets promoted as journalism is an attempt for a larger media market share and not well written, either.

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John Fountain: That is a wonderful, wonderful question, and I am so glad you asked that.

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John Fountain: I will say, and, and I’ll be brief on this. I have a

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John Fountain: Couple of slides. I think that that address this to some degree, but the one that’s up now that says what is journalism. It’s not fake naps.

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John Fountain: A current reason reflection and printer telecommunications to members of society of societies events values and needs. Do I think that journalism is faulty now that it isn’t as good as it once was.

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John Fountain: No, I don’t believe that. I think that I know.

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John Fountain: Journalists

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John Fountain: Who were journalists, when I was at the Washington Post and they’re still at the post or I’ve gone on to the New York Times or I know journalists who worked for the new york times when I was there who are still there journalists who work at Chicago Tribune and let me tell you, journalist.

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John Fountain: There are lots of things that we could do as journalists with the skills we have, and I’m not bragging. It’s just we have the ability to write, we have the ability to speak and so on. And let me just be honest. Nobody becomes a journalist to make a whole lot of money.

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John Fountain: We do it because we’re passionate, we believe in this mantra of social justice. We believe in the media occupy the space as the fourth estate as being the gatekeepers.

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John Fountain: As being the liaison between the government and the citizenry and being the watchdog and

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John Fountain: I think what what gets lost is the news, the news media gets sort of lumped into this giant pool of all media and

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John Fountain: You know when I when I pick up the New York Times and I pick up the Washington Post, I expect corroborated credible stories they built a legacy a history on doing good journalism and

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John Fountain: That’s what we’re in the business of doing. I mean, right now we have a world pandemic.

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John Fountain: And there are journalists who are risking their lives on the front lines to tell that story.

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John Fountain: And they’re so committed in their own way in the craft in which they have believed they had been called

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John Fountain: To providing

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John Fountain: Information

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John Fountain: To a society to the world at a time when we need it.

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John Fountain: They’re committed to cutting through the morass and cutting through the fake stuff out there and bringing Real News.

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John Fountain: So I think that there exist more news outlets or more media outlets that purport to do some of which purport to do journalism. But I look at some of that stuff in the, in the, in the end, the pool of what exists that is purported to be journalism.

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John Fountain: And I, and I do see stuff that I don’t regard is necessarily being journalism. But in terms of the mainstream press and even even some of the stories that are written by independent journalist, you know, the folks who who filed the FOIA.

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John Fountain: To freedom of information requests to get the details about liquid McDonald’s FATAL SHOOTING 16 times at the hand of a police officer to get that information out into the public

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John Fountain: That is credible journalism and and so we continue to do that. I think the media is under the news media are under assault.

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John Fountain: And no, I’m not crying about that it is what it is, but understand this. I’ll shut up that we have the only currency, we have it as journalist.

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John Fountain: Is the public’s trust. That’s all we have. It is our credibility. It is my name as a journalist. If I lose my name as a journalist. I am done completely and so

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John Fountain: Those of us who are real journalist regard that and I think there are a lot of them in fact I’ve trained help train. Some of them, some of them at Roosevelt University who were out there. They think journalist.

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John Fountain: I’ve trained some one of my former students is a is a national correspondent covering the White House press conferences conferences.

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John Fountain: Several times a week and

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John Fountain: He’s a real journalist, there are lots of us out there. So I think

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John Fountain: I think

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John Fountain: I think you know there are some issues, but at the core, I think the news is still doing his job.

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John Fountain: I’d said I would be brief.

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Kristy Kotek: Know that this is wonderful. We did have a couple of more questions, come on, come in, and I know we’re running up to the hour, but hopefully address these

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Kristy Kotek: First, why our movements for men in the United States so limited. Do you think it’s because men don’t open up as much as women because they think it’s a show of weakness.

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John Fountain: Wow.

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John Fountain: That’s, that’s it, that’s it. That’s a great question.

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John Fountain: I think women and I don’t want to sound like a sexist.

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John Fountain: But, but women are so much better at communicating what they feel what they think. And I think there is this sort of broad bravado but cheese mo among man, regardless of race that is very difficult for us to say, you know, I’m hurting or

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John Fountain: Two to confess that there are

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John Fountain: Issues that are

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John Fountain: That we that we need to rally to to overcome. I think women are better at organizing. I really do. And

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John Fountain: Those are my, those are those are my initial primary thoughts on that.

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Kristy Kotek: Thank you. Okay. Last question, print journalism versus on camera reporters on different skills training are required, or they required in pursuing social justice stories.

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John Fountain: Different skills. Um, but today as a journalist, you got to be able to do it all. You know, I’m, I’m, what, what I would call a print specialist. I love the word the printed word. I love writing. I will write until the day I die.

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John Fountain: But in. So I think that you can

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John Fountain: You can you can create you can hone your skills journalism as a craft that you can get better at, you know, we talked about in terms of the written word.

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John Fountain: You know some of the mechanics of using sensory detail of starting your stories with an anecdotal lead with the story and bringing learning to bring your stories full circle of using incorporating some of the same devices as fiction narrative writing

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John Fountain: So you can you can you can get better at that you can. Many of you have something called a mobile device.

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John Fountain: I like my Android other people like an iPhone, but you can you can record and and you can actually do broadcast quality recording with your HD recording device. Let me give you a hint.

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John Fountain: Helpful hit just in terms of honing your skills. I know you shoot like this vertically for Facebook but you should be shooting horizontally, if you’re shooting video

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John Fountain: And you also have on your phone, because in this class we talked about mobile journalism. You also have an all your phones, a digital audio recorder. So you have the ability to record.

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John Fountain: fairly decent very decent audio so you can hone those skills. And the way you do that is by practicing and telling the stories, even in your own family.

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John Fountain: Can help you improve those skills and ultimately those skills can be used to help you do social justice journalism.

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John Fountain: So if you, for instance, a breakthrough urban ministries and you’re involved there. You can do a story about their health center. You can do a story about their community program. If you’re at a local church. You can do a story using, you know, writing or using your mobile device about

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John Fountain: Your churches involvement in ministry and feeding the homeless and and clothing, the poor and so on. So we aren’t limited and what I want everyone what I want to encourage everyone to do is you don’t is, remember, you don’t have to be

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John Fountain: Shakespeare or Hemingway to begin writing right what you are passionate about seek additional skills.

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John Fountain: Their professors and classes out there and things that you can simply Google on the Internet in terms of learning how to become a better writer and how to become even a better multimedia journalist.

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John Fountain: And those skills. I think ultimately will help you. Is it writing and covering stories of social justice, social justice movements is is what you’re after.

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John Fountain: Okay.

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John Fountain: Scrolling to the end.

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John Fountain: Homework.

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John Fountain: The dirty word.

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John Fountain: And if anyone chooses to take this on. I know that we’re probably going to at some point we’re going to be released from quarantine and I look forward to seeing some of you at Roosevelt university for

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John Fountain: For an opportunity simply to come back to class and come back to school. I promise you the opportunity to to ride in a group setting and we do all kinds of in class.

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John Fountain: writing exercises I here’s one that I would like to engage you in. And here’s the deal. If you take this essay on I promised to read an edit the first 10 essays that I received

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John Fountain: As toiling in the semester, and I’ve got some other projects but I promise if you’re one of the first 10 to get in. I will send it in. And I’ll give you my email address.

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John Fountain: I promise to get back to you, right, and no more than 600 word essay on a current social movement or social justice issue of your choice.

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John Fountain: Or in light of the current times when we are all facing this global pandemic when it is paralyzed, much of the world.

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John Fountain: write an essay about some aspect of this experience for you. Under the heading lessons from the store. I’m going to be writing one of these myself.

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John Fountain: My students in social justice stories, the honest class this semester, have already written there’s and they’re in the process of podcasting them, and some of them is simply amazing, beautiful begin with the same

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John Fountain: Just the same show rather than tail using sensory detail sensory the

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John Fountain: Smell here. See, you can even include some taste, but you’re the writer think parable, rather than preaching. Although your reflections and introspection.

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John Fountain: Are certainly allowed in your peace remember right to express not to impress.

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John Fountain: Another tip that isn’t written here. Sometimes people. I used to experience writer’s block, but as a journalist I realized that if I had writer’s block. I was not going to be able to keep my job very long, so I discovered

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John Fountain: That the cure for writer’s block is what I was doing was I was writing and editing at the same time. And so it took me forever to finish something,

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John Fountain: And what I learned to do is to allow myself to do some, something we call stream of consciousness writing

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John Fountain: Right. Do not correct myself on first draft, I simply allow myself to dwell in the place and I just write and then i have i compartmentalize. I understand.

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John Fountain: What I know now is that good writing is writing and rewriting and editing and rewriting and you don’t do any of those processes at the same time. So just write it. Remember, this is your story. Say what you believe.

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John Fountain: Thank you.

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Kristy Kotek: Thank you so much, that that was amazing and I wrote down there. The, the homework assignment so I’ll have to get to work.

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John Fountain: So,

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John Fountain: Let me give my email address. It is chief fountain J fo u n ta n g fountain at Roosevelt that edu.

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Kristy Kotek: And I’ll put it in the chat box to so if anyone

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Was wonderful

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Kristy Kotek: And then also, I’ll be sending up a follow up email to everyone and I can include the PDF in that in that communication as well. So everyone has it, and I can can include your email address to

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Kristy Kotek: Our

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Wonderful.

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Kristy Kotek: Well, thank you to everyone for joining us. JOHN. Thank you. This was a wonderful I we’ve had so many just expressing gratitude and appreciation for you being with us today and all that they’re learning so

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Kristy Kotek: To you again. Thank you so much, everyone. Thanks for joining in. You can look forward to more of these virtual lifelong learning events in the future that will be offering and everyone enjoy your weekend.

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John Fountain: Thank you.

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Kristy Kotek: Yes.

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Yasmin R: Thank you. Bye.

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Bye.