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Tag: Journalism

A Tour of Texas BookshopsThe storefront for Bookwoman in Austin, Texas shows an angel with a halo of curly brown hair, reading a book, her wings outstretched and wearing a golden dress with white stars. She's flanked on either side by female symbols which are in flames or silver electricity.
Bookwoman in Austin, Texas is one of just a handful of feminist bookstores left in America. (Kit O'Connell)
November 28, 2022
Kit
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A Tour of Texas Bookshops

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and The Texas Observer

Big-city traffic and a resolution on New Year’s Eve of 2020 led Pflugerville resident Kelsey Black to become a bookseller.

An avid reader, she disliked the hour round trip required to get from  her suburb of 65,000 to downtown Austin to browse a bookstore. “OK,”  she told herself, “I think it’s just going to be easier for me to …  start my own bookstore.”

Turned out, it wasn’t easy at all, “but it’s OK because I have now found my calling,” Black said. The Book Burrow began as a pop-up and online business and finally, on August 6, opened  as a brick-and-mortar store. She said the 200-square-foot space has  become a haven for those who don’t feel like they fit in elsewhere,  drawn by the store’s motto: “Embrace your weird.” For her, the phrase  means cultivating love for whatever makes you unique: “Embrace your  gender identity; embrace your sexual identity; embrace your racial  background; embrace your spiritual path.”

Read moreA Tour of Texas Bookshops
There Is No Legitimate ‘Debate’ Over Gender-Affirming HealthcareA group of young LGBTQIA+ folks in a parade march with signs reading 'Queer and Trans Youth are Magic" and another reading "Trans Rights" surrounded by the trans rights colors.
Aurora, IL Pride parade 2022 Flickr / risingthermals CC NC
July 22, 2022
Kit
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There Is No Legitimate ‘Debate’ Over Gender-Affirming Healthcare

Posted in Journalism, LGBTQIA, and The Texas Observer

This article was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in 2023 in the category “Outstanding Online Journalism Article.”

On June 15, the New York Times Magazine published “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” an investigation into gender-affirming care for young people bystaff writer Emily Bazelon. Since its publication, transgender-rights advocates, medical experts, and other journalists have condemned the article for inaccurately portraying such care as controversial, misrepresenting scientific research, and quoting anti-trans activists without proper context. 

Now, the state of Texas is using it as evidence in an ongoing attempt to investigate trans-supportive healthcare as “child abuse.”

In February, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion that redefined gender-affirming healthcare as “child abuse,” after which Governor Greg Abbott directed the Depart­ment of Family and Protective Services to investigate trans youth and their families. Ever since, Texas has been engaged in a protracted legal battle with civil rights groups over the order. In a recent salvo, the ACLU and Lambda Legal filed suit to protect members of PFLAG, a nonprofit for families and allies of LGBTQ+ people. For the moment, the courts have blocked Child Protective Services from investigating families with trans kids as long as they are members of PFLAG. It was in these proceedings that the state used the Times article in a brief on July 6.

Read moreThere Is No Legitimate ‘Debate’ Over Gender-Affirming Healthcare
Fact-checking Fascism: Axios Platforms Violent Biker Gang Over Veterans DayIn a heated confrontation, Proud Boys in their yellow uniforms confront a group facing away from the camera. One in a yellow Proud Boys mask points angrily at us.
A confrontation with Proud Boys in Wasington, D.C. (Geoff Livingston / Flickr, CC NC ND license)
November 11, 2021
Kit
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Fact-checking Fascism: Axios Platforms Violent Biker Gang Over Veterans Day

Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

Over 5 years since the election of Donald Trump and the rise of the powerful white supremacist movement he empowered, the mainstream media still struggles to fact-check fascists.

It always interests me which organizations get the benefit of the doubt from the mainstream media.

I (and many others) have written about how the mainstream media tends to take the words of police at face value. Reporters often use whatever language makes police seem blameless after violent interactions.

Just like cops, right-wing fascists frequently get platformed by reporters who fail to ask vital questions.

Which brings us to an article by Asher Price, an Austin reporter for Axios.

Read moreFact-checking Fascism: Axios Platforms Violent Biker Gang Over Veterans Day
Podcast: Talking with Visu.News about ‘Officer-Involved’ ShootingsA photo of a police car at a crime scene, framed with just the roof and blue light visible in the foreground, and a blurry urban scene in the background. Kit O'Connell went on the Visu.News podcast to discuss how the media covers police when they kill.
Kit went on the Visu.News podcast to discuss police and the media.
April 16, 2021
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Podcast: Talking with Visu.News about ‘Officer-Involved’ Shootings

Posted in Audio, and Journalism

I appeared on the Visu.News podcast to discuss my recent article on the language media uses when discussing the police. The hosts, Aaron Cynic and Zach Roberts, had just watched the recently released bodycam footage of the police murder of Adam Toledo. They were understandably shaken, and it gave our discussion an increased urgency.

Read morePodcast: Talking with Visu.News about ‘Officer-Involved’ Shootings
Officer-Involved Shootings: How Was The Officer Involved?A closer look at the myth of officer-involved shootings. Two police cars lined up at a roadside with their emergency lights lit.
At the scene of another 'officer-involved' shooting?
April 14, 2021
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Officer-Involved Shootings: How Was The Officer Involved?

Posted in Creative Commons, and Journalism

I found a really stark example this week of how the mainstream media continues to misreport about police killings, or as they too-often call them, “officer-involved shootings.”

I’m not the first one to point out that this is a problem. Experts on journalism discourages the use of vague language like “officer-involved shootings.” So why does the media persist in it?

Again, this happens all the time. I’m only calling out ABC here because it’s so blatant: two contrasting examples from the same 24-hour period. Here’s the first tweet:

Read moreOfficer-Involved Shootings: How Was The Officer Involved?
Yes Magazine: Documenting Protests While Protecting ProtestersA person in a yellow jacket films an event. Livestreaming ethics means always being aware of what is and isn't in your frame. It means showing what the mainstream media ignores.
A person in a yellow jacket films an event on a smartphone. (Morguefile, public domain)
November 5, 2020
Kit
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Yes Magazine: Documenting Protests While Protecting Protesters

Posted in Journalism, and Yes! Magazine

Often working with just their phones, community journalists can shine light on movements, expose police brutality, and help protect activists from getting “disappeared” by an authoritarian government. At the same time, the wrong tweet—or especially livestream—can leave people in the street exposed to increased police surveillance.

From “snatch and grab” arrests in unmarked vans, to raids on the homes of perceived organizers, activists have good reason to be concerned. From Portland, Oregon, to Philadelphia, law enforcement acknowledge using livestreams and other social media to gather evidence.

As activists begin to face serious charges from the most recent wave of protests, there’s also more attention on the risks posed by inexperienced or unethical community journalists. Meanwhile, more people are protesting for the first time, with some newly taking up the role of community journalist. As such, a debate that’s been bubbling beneath the surface since at least the Occupy movement and Arab Spring is bursting to the forefront: the question of whether, and how, protests should be documented in real time online.

Read moreYes Magazine: Documenting Protests While Protecting Protesters