EVERY SILVER LINING HAS A TOUCH OF GREY
HOW WE CAN BREAK AWAY FROM
TOXIC NEWS CYCLES
SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 — EDWIN VAN DE SCHEUR
Printing a magazine in the digital age — it’s presumed to be a rarity nowadays considering that the younger generations are consuming their news more and more solely via their smartphones. And yet, it was a very conscious decision to go there for the founders of Are We Europe; who, back in the day, were just another group of students statistically expected to be scrolling away on their smartphones.
“When we post a story that’s more ‘newsy’, it does much better in terms of engagement.”
Amongst them is Kyrill Hartog, co-founder of Are We Europe and editor-in-chief of their magazine, who explains to us why they decided to break with these statistics:
“One of the main reasons we wanted to turn to Slow Journalism — given, everything you print nowadays can automatically be considered slow — is that we had a very strong sense that the modern news cycle is toxic, not constructive, and causes a lot of negative emotions with readers. It makes the public disengage from the news as it keeps moving from one crisis to the next.”
With this toxic news cycle being a key-motivator for Are We Europe to present a slow, offline alternative, Hartog immediately had to admit that the cycle is not a reality one can easily escape:
“The minute we post a story that’s more ‘newsy’, we immediately see that it does much better in terms of engagement. So, editorially speaking, we are constantly challenged with finding that sweet spot between urgency (something people click on), and something that’s more timeless and more thoughtful: the stuff that we love to make.”
“I think we’re on the right track for that.”
FINDING THE SILVER LINING IN A PANDEMIC
Normally, Are We Europe plans the themes of their quarterly magazines almost a year ahead. But like so many things, that flow got rudely interrupted by the coronavirus as it started to make its way across Europe:
“Initially we were planning on doing an issue on sports, but since all the tournaments and matches were getting canceled by the dozens, that wouldn’t have been the greatest moment to do it. At the same time, even as much as we try to stay clear of the mainstream news cycle, this one also felt too big to ignore.”
“People crave for stories that counterbalance the news.”
“So we thought: okay, let’s make an issue about the pandemic but let’s also give it a constructive, solutions-orientated approach. We felt it was a great opportunity to tell positive, uplifting stories about Europeans, and the way they’re dealing with the pandemic on a local and a cross-European level.”
According to Hartog, when they published their call for these stories, they were bombarded with applications. Clearly, there wasn’t any shortage of constructive and uplifting stories.
Read ‘A Job for Elves’ here.
One of the stories that made it to the printed magazine was one on the so-called ‘Elves’: a very real, and very normal group of people in the Baltic states. Nurses, doctors, radiologists — all kinds of medical professionals who volunteered to fight disinformation and flag fake news on social media. Hartog: “It turned out to become one of my favourite articles as it gives a very personal look at how even just one individual can make a difference and how fake news isn’t just something that is happening and that you have no control over. It was very empowering to read.”
“it’s time for these stories to rise to the surface,” Hartog exclaims with confidence. “It’s tough though. Most people are interested in the direct, practical stories: ‘what’s the virus like,’ and ‘can I travel to Germany?' But as Are We Europe, we can fill the niche for people who want to go beyond that; people who crave for stories that counterbalance the news, provide more background context, and help us make sense of this bizarre situation — this global pandemic that none of us has ever experienced before.”
A TOUCH OF GREY
AWE’s online teammeeting: an all too familiar sight.
In many ways, the Silver Lining was a different kind of magazine to publish for the team. Not only was it a direct response to the current news cycle and a relative ad-hoc decision to make it, the editors and the journalists were also confined — like so many of us — to working solely online.
But then at the same time, the Silver Lining also represents a solid return to the roots of one of AWE’s founding principles: to break away from toxic storytelling. A mission that goes beyond any single debate on the future of Europe or a specific virus. It’s a mission that tries to change the media landscape, and in doing so, contribute to the multifaceted fight against polarisation.
“We are still a tiny drop in a big ocean.”
“I believe we’re onto something,” Hartog explains, slightly hesitant. “We are looking at the essential building blocks that can help reshape media culture. There’s a lot of lessons to be learned here for journalists and policy makers.”
For a second, Hartog remains quiet. Then he continues: “However, I consider our impact still too limited — fighting polarisation needs to happen on so many other levels as well. When Trump tweets something, I think that has a much larger negative impact than our stories can ever have a positive one.”
“In the end we have to accept that as an independent media company, we are still a tiny drop in a big ocean.”
A RIPPLING WAVE
Following this sceptical perspective, we asked Hartog what the community could actually do to help them in turning that tiny drop into a rippling wave across the ocean. He delivered a clear-cut answer:
“We’re actually working really hard on a membership package at AWE where we want to engage much more with our readers and our community. The coming six months, we will provide the audience with a lot more opportunities to engage with and shape the direction of our organisation.”
“We want to match the journalists to our community. We want to crowdsource stories. I think if you can do that for a story, you can make a real contribution to the fight against polarisation. Because it’s about stimulating the conversation and supporting meet-ups whether online or in real life.”
“The magazine is a much-needed invitation for people to slow down.”
"I’d say it’s our ultimate dream to have a truly European community that’s diverse in many ways, speaking to each other about issues that affect them from all these different places and situations. It would be a fresh democratic approach to journalism and media in general.”
“People think it’s impossible to combine that with a curated, printed magazine — and for sure, it’s not the most inclusive format, but we also combine it with a lot of online storytelling as well. In the end, I firmly believe that the magazine is a much-needed invitation for people to slow down and start consuming news in a different, less polarised way."
If you want to support new forms of journalism, forms that manage to depolarise, we invite you to become a part of Are We Europe’s community and join their membership programme!