{"id":15633,"date":"2025-06-13T12:50:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T12:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=15633"},"modified":"2025-06-13T12:50:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T12:50:58","slug":"random-normies-bearing-witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2025\/06\/13\/random-normies-bearing-witness\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Random normies’ bearing witness"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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***<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Dear Storyboard community, <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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There\u2019s a moment I keep coming back to from my podcast conversation last week with journalist Drew Harwell<\/a>. He talks about this era of heightened distrust in the media, and he wonders whether we are missing opportunities to help people understand what journalists actually do and why it matters: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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We as an institution have been attacked and criticized from a partisan perspective for many years, right? We’ve had this persona placed onto us, and we haven’t really done a good job of necessarily just saying that we’re all just a bunch of random normies, basically. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

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We have notepads. We go out and ask people questions. We are trying to be a reflection of what we see. We’re just people like you. We’re just observers. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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The words that come to mind when I encounter great work from journalists are \u201ccuriosity,\u201d \u201chumility,\u201d and \u201chumanity.\u201d A passion for showing up, listening, and bearing witness. We have a brilliant example this week from journalist Kent Babb, who told the story of Jaedan Brown<\/a>, whose father, former football star Corwin Brown, is suffering from mental illness potentially caused by CTE. So much of good storytelling rests on access to intimate or difficult moments from someone’s life. Babb told Storyboard’s Trevor Pyle that writing this story required trust and transparency with the family \u2014 and at one point Babb found himself nearly talking them out of participating.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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In journalism, you can meet people where they are and engage in storytelling however works. You might be full-time on staff at a news organization or side-hustling with an iPhone camera and a TikTok account. There are many ways for \u201crandom normies,\u201d for observers with notepads, to show up. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Plenty of journalists will be doing that this weekend at protests around the U.S. Be safe, be careful, and thank you for braving dangerous conditions to keep us informed.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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How journalist Kent Babb used text messages to write about a daughter’s struggle to connect with her football star father<\/a><\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\"Jaedan<\/a>
Jaedan Brown and her father Corwin Brown hug as attendees arrive for a fundraiser on behalf of the Concussion Legacy Foundation at Wolverine Pickleball in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 12, 2025. (Photo by Emily Elconin for The Washington Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> \n
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“It may seem self-defeating to talk a willing participant out of speaking with me for a story, but with pieces like this, I try hard to be a human being first and a reporter second. It’s extremely personal, mega-sensitive, and the immersive nature of this kind of story isn’t for everyone.”<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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[Read the story<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Links of note<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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