Guest Post: Pat Kane talks parachute journalism
Parachute journalism is colonization by the media.
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My friend Pat Kane is an Indigenous photojournalist based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, who has worked for publications such as National Geographic, The Globe and Mail, and The Atlantic. He has been talking about the harms of parachute journalism in his Instagram stories over the past couple days, following a recent story published by The New York Times, which failed to use local journalists and also got several facts wrong. This is an issue that him and I talk about all the time (and are exhausted by), as it is something that he sees constantly in Northern Canada in the same way that I see it in Vancouver related to the toxic drug supply crisis, and particularly in the Downtown Eastside.
Here are some of his thoughts about the problems with parachute journalism:
The “outsider view” is not new in Northern Canada (or most Circumpolar regions). Journalists, filmmakers, artists, and anthropologists have always come to study people, places and cultures at the expense of those they study.
Indigenous people, in particular, have historically been left out of the narratives altogether, or else been subjects of racist stereotyping.
It is not uncommon to see photographs of Indigenous people in museums with “Name Unknown” written next to them.
This “othering” goes back to the early days of colonization, and it continues today.
In 2019 a story about Cape Dorset was filled with descriptions of Nunavumiut as drug addicted and living in squalor. Words like “poverty,” “rage” and “fume-sniffing teenagers” were written more than once in the story.
That is an extreme example, however. Often “othering” is not so obvious to the casual reader, but it is obvious to us.
A year ago a story about Yellowknife fire evacuations did not include any Indigenous voices (or any other ethnicity other than white).
More recently the place we live was mistakenly printed as “Northwestern Territories” and labelled a province.
These don’t seem like a big deal, but they are. The message we get is: “You are not important enough for us to care about basic facts.”
Hiring local journalists and ensuring local voices are included matters. Representation matters.
Some might argue that local journalists cannot be objective because they are too close to the stories. I completely disagree.
If this is true should we get rid of community newspapers, local radio, or regional broadcasting?
If this is true should journalists living in Toronto or New York be banned from covering stories in Toronto or New York?
These are ridiculous conclusions, obviously.
Saying that local journalists cannot be objective is saying that they do not have the ability or cannot be trusted, and that outsiders need to come in and tell these stories instead “because they know better.”
This is what colonization is.
But instead of colonization by the government or the church, it is colonization by the media. And this is the main problem with parachute journalism.
It is not that outsider journalists are not talented or well-meaning, it is that publications that hire them are disenfranchising the storytellers in the communities they are covering, and more often than not are consistently making both small and huge mistakes that go unchecked.
Our voices are important because they bring expertise and nuance.
Some resources to find freelance photographers if you don’t know where to start:
https://diversify.photo/
https://www.womenphotograph.com/
https://indigenousphotograph.com/
Tyee reporter Jackie Wong also wrote a response piece to a recent example of terrible parachute journalism by the Telegraph, which you can read here.
A great piece in The Tyee by Jesse Winter, about harmful imagery in photojournalism.
Another great article that talks about this, and the harm that this kind of journalism is doing, is this Toronto Star piece by Manisha Krishnan.
An Aunt Jackie guest post by Maddi Dellplain that talks about parachute journalism in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.