Power sharing and collaboration with survivors 

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Domestic violence is fundamentally about power and control. Even if survivors escape abusive situations, they often have ongoing safety concerns for themselves and their loved ones; uncertainty in dealing with law enforcement, housing, child welfare, or other systems; and a struggle to regain control of their lives.

When survivors meet journalists, they have already lost a great deal of autonomy.  The relationship between journalists and survivors has elements of power and control. Journalists hold considerable power when deciding which stories to tell, and how. You also hold sensitive information that, if mishandled, can threaten a survivor’s safety and well-being. There are also financial power dynamics; journalists are compensated for telling these stories, and most of the time survivors are not. Journalists can acknowledge these imbalances and strive to avoid replicating the dynamics that have already harmed their sources.

“Survivors of violence have power taken away from them. Those who report to law enforcement don't always have control over the outcome of the investigation. I think as journalists, we are in a situation where we can say, ‘Hey, actually you do have some control over how this process goes. This is us giving you some power to tell your story.’”

Sammy Caiola

Special projects reporter
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Kensington Voice

Journalists can include survivors in the storytelling process: sharing interview questions in advance, for example, and allowing survivors to review their quotes.  

“For me, the key is to give survivors agency,” says Angela Kim, a survivor who has written for California Health Report. “It's crucial to acknowledge the inherent power dynamics in the reporting process and to build safety and trust by keeping survivors informed and involved in how their story is being told.”

Time constraints, traditional journalism practices, and some newsroom policies can make this kind of collaboration challenging, but transparency builds trust with your sources and can lead to richer and more impactful stories.

Tips

Share questions in advance
Before an interview, provide a list of questions, sketch a general outline of the story you have in mind, or simply ask survivors what would help them prepare.

Try peer interviews
Invite survivors to conduct their own interviews with their loved ones or other relevant characters in the story you are crafting. Guide this process by helping them develop interview questions, recording the interviews alongside them, and talking afterward about how it went.

Explain editorial decisions
Explain whatever editorial decisions and processes you can, particularly any that may go against what a survivor wanted.

Prior review

It may conflict with journalistic tradition and some newsroom policies, but consider allowing survivors to give feedback or review sensitive aspects of a story prior to publication. The unique circumstances of each case will help you and your editors find a balance between ethical standards and survivor safety. Some different ways this could be done:

Summarize key points
Provide a brief summary of the main points or themes of the story. This gives the survivor an overview of what will be covered without sharing specific details or quotes.

Share direct quotes
Offer survivors the opportunity to review the direct quotes attributed to them and the context in which they are placed. This helps ensure accuracy and gives survivors a chance to clarify or even rescind what they have said.

Discuss sensitive details
Schedule time to review specific sensitive sections, such as descriptions of traumatic events or personal information. This allows journalists to handle these parts with care and respect for the privacy and safety of survivors and their families.

Share the full draft
In rare and highly sensitive cases, provide the full draft of the story for the survivor to review.  

“This is not something I would ever do for people in power, or people who have an advocacy agenda,” says Sammy Caiola, special projects reporter at Kensington Voice. “But for vulnerable sources, I've developed like a fact check which is, ‘Hey, here's what I heard, this is kind of my paraphrase. Let me read it back to you on the phone.’ Sometimes, they'll be like, ‘Oh man, I was having a horrible day when I told you that. I wasn't thinking straight, could you not use that?’ The most important thing to me is that they are comfortable with what is getting published. I just don't want there to be any surprises for them come print day.”

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Further reading

Survivors were part of the story shaping process for a podcast about sexual assault. Reporter Sammy Caiola developed an outline for six episodes and shared it with some of her sources, asking what was missing or if they had other suggestions.

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