Perspective from a community representative of Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

When the public’s only experience or engagement with Black and brown communities is when viewing news stories that display their communities in an unfavorable light, it only reinforces the negative stereotype associated with socially oppressed neighborhoods.

As an advocate of equity, my goal has been to challenge and reform the inequitable systems and practices that hinder access and opportunities for historically underrepresented populations. I take great efforts to embed equity into conversations.

The Pittsburgh Community Advisory Committee was an opportunity for me to engage with journalists and community stakeholders to have open and transparent conversations in an inclusive and welcoming environment. The experience helped foster candid conversation without demonizing the media. With the commitment and intentionality of our community liaison, the local news advisory project also worked to amplify the voices of residents who are often afraid to speak up.

This experience provided critical insight into the perspectives of journalists and what drives news stories. These conversations repositioned my belief that journalists’ sole motivation is to sensationalize stories for the greatest impact or shock value without any regard to the impact on the community.

Having this unprecedented access to journalists and media demonstrated to me their willingness to be vulnerable and gave me the opportunity to share my thoughts on how they can be more culturally competent, seek diverse perspectives and build relationships. The access also unlocked the opportunity for my local media to understand how critical it is that they investigate the backstories and root causes of harms impacting oppressed communities with limited resources. The experience has profoundly impacted how I view the media and journalism, and I believe it has also impacted how they navigate the complexities of reporting the news and balancing societal change.

I have so many more hopes for the news media than I had prior to joining the committee, and when I consider both my own community’s gains from this experience, and other local communities who may experience a local news advisory like this one, I hope the news media:

• Continues to have open access and conversations with community members and stakeholders like this
• Hires more journalists of color to increase diverse voices and lived experiences around the decision table
• Invests in workshops to understand the historical traumas of a community and how to take a trauma-informed approach with reporting news stories or engaging with local residents
• Investigates the backstories and/or root causes of issues to provide a holistic perspective
• Provides follow-ups to stories focusing on the changes resulting from the initial story

It takes time to build trust. The willingness to implement community engagement strategies, changes and newsroom processes can impact culture, ideas and belief systems when the right time and depth of knowledge and consistency of action are allowed. I’d like to see this work continue with a yearlong advisory committee where all participating newsrooms work to jointly create a series of stories on a matter of great importance to the community.

Sebastian Lacy is the vice president of equity & culture and human resources at YWCA Greater Pittsburgh. He is a dedicated community leader known for his impactful involvement in various initiatives, including the Pittsburgh Human Resources Association, the local Voting Is Power coalition and the newest Leadership Pittsburgh, Inc. cohort.