CASE STUDY
NEON
Creating an Ethical, Anti-Racist Storytelling Guide
The Problem
As a group of nine community foundations committed to dismantling systemic racism, members of NEON realized that the traditional ways in which stories are told by journalists and other communicators sometimes reinforced racist stereotypes.
Further, the group expressed concerns that writers often went about reporting and writing stories in ways that demeaned or exploited some of the people who were subjects of those stories.
The Solution
A group of communicators from NEON teamed up with Turn Two to develop an ethical, anti-racist storytelling guide for writers and content creators working at community foundations and other organizations.
The group researched existing guidance and gathered insights on ethical storytelling. Meetings were held over the course of several months to discuss the focus and scope of the guide.
The result is the first iteration of an easy-to-follow primer designed to serve as a tool for professional communicators to tell those stories in ways that they don’t inflict undue harm, perpetuate stereotypes, or reinforce inequitable systems.
The Ethical, Anti-Racist Storytelling Guide can help communicators avoid perpetuating stereotypes or reinforcing inequitable systems.
Results
The Ethical, Anti-Racist Storytelling Guide now serves as a resource for the communications teams of the community foundations that make up the NEON.
NEON members hosted a webinar about the Ethical, Anti-Racist Storytelling Guide for communicators who are part of the Community Foundation Awareness Initiative(CFAI). Participants were encouraged to download the guide to share with their communications teams.
Our Turn Two team has consistently promoted the guide through social media channels.