What we learned from hosting the Diaspora Reporting Handbook’s first ever workshop

Hi y’all, 

Thanks so much for the rich and insightful discussion last week. We have a breakdown on major themes and points participants raised in our discussion. We explored how cultural expectations shape assimilation, the narrative of American exceptionalism, and what under-discussed tension between adapting and surviving could mean for how migrants engage with news and information. We also briefly explored how journalists make assumptions in how complex information is communicated to broad audiences, such as focusing more on communication and design theory and how it affects the approachability of the information. Let us know your thoughts if you attended our first workshop on May 19th! 

Don’t forget, we have our second workshop coming up on Thursday, May 29th for participants who were unable to attend the first round. Sign up here. 

If you want to schedule a chat, please leave your name and email in the box that appears after selecting your vote.  

Was this email forwarded from a friend? Sign up for our newsletter for updates on the project, reporting resources, and more ways to contribute to building our diaspora reporting handbook. 

Here’s what we talked about ICYMI: 

🌍 Immigrant Perspectives from the Ground

• One international student shared his journey from working in journalism for a decade to later earning their Master’s degree in the U.S. They emphasized that diaspora communities navigate assimilation, survival, and representation all at once. 

  • Assimilation can be a survival mechanism, which includes deep systemic and cultural hurdles. We asked how assimilation could influence the way diaspora communities interact with information.  

  • U.S. journalism can also feel insular compared to how journalism works in other parts of the world, including U.S. outlets having less emphasis on cross-border collaborations. 

  • See Unbias the News as an example. 
    

💸The role of American exceptionalism 

• Several reflections in our conversation underscored how immigrant success stories often rely on deeply embedded ideas of American exceptionalism, where hard work leads to guaranteed success (e.g., buying a house or climbing the career ladder.) These narratives, reinforced by older generations and cultural norms, are rarely challenged in daily discourse. Journalism has the opportunity—and responsibility—to complicate these stories by exposing the limits of this myth and offering a fuller range of outcomes and truths, especially for marginalized communities.

• One participant said that immigrant success stories often stem from inherited assumptions that deserve more outward scrutiny. 

How can journalists interrogate these assumptions while also sharing information that contributes to the safety, dignity, and security of migrant communities?

📊 How Data and History Intersect 

• Data is often treated as objective, but it reflects the priorities and blind spots of the institutions that collect it. For example, data on Asian Americans has been misused to legitimize the model minority myth. 

• One participant also emphasized the importance of understanding what circumstances drive immigration whether it be economic hardship, education, or political violence. Maybe all three. 

What would it look like to report beyond the numbers to routinely question what’s measured, who gets counted, and what’s left out? What can journalists learn from numbers with the context of history?

Thanks again for being part of such a thoughtful space. We’ll send more information about a third workshop soon, where we’ll present a synthesis of all of our conversations so far and co-create a plan for crowdsourcing . So watch this space! 

If you have any thoughts or topics you’d like us to include in our newsletter or future discussion, please feel free to reply to this email. For this edition, we have a submission from the Cameroon American Council's African Immigrant Media Network who reached out to Diara with best practices for Incorporating African immigrant, migrant, expat, refugee, and first-generation voices in U.S. Policy and Media

Until next time, 

Your steering committee 

• Kristine Villanueva

• Diara J. Townes 

• James Salanga 

• John Hernandez 

• Ashley Okwuosa