Reclaiming ‘change’ as purpose

Journalism as we know – at its best – can spark shifts, make connections, enable movements, and inspire action, through narrative reframing, dialogue with grassroots organisation, demands for accountability, pushes for policy reform, and more. These are all examples of impacts that lead to some form of change. 

At the heart of Change-Centric Journalism is the choice to own change as intent: change is no longer a by-product of our work – it is its purpose. 

I became a journalist because I want to make the world a better place. If people have a problem with that, that’s absolutely fine, but actually the disconnect is with them, not with me, because that’s probably why they became a journalist but [they] never got to do that in the system.” – Shirish Kulkarni, Welsh journalist and community organiser  

Many of us came into journalism with the desire to make things better. Over time, that language has been replaced by a softer word: impact. Framed as a safer, more fundable goal, “impact” became the stand-in for change – a buzzword to fend off ill-informed accusations of bias or advocacy. (More on this in the chapter Reassessing the ethics of journalism.)