Listening, Reflecting, and Protecting: Empathy as a Priority for Local Journalists Covering Underserved Communities

Through in-depth interviews (N = 20), this study explores how journalists in the UK’s Facebook Community News Project described using empathy to report on and repair relationships with underserved communities. Reporters discussed how they engaged in empathetic listening with community members, humanized them through news profiles, and attempted to protect them after story publication. Through listening, reflecting, and protecting, they aimed to make inroads in communities that previously did not see themselves represented fairly — or at all — in local news coverage. Institutional constraints led some reporters to prioritize individual narratives over coverage of systemic issues affecting marginalized communities, limiting opportunities to fully engage in solidarity journalism. This research contributes to understandings of the opportunities and challenges for initiatives seeking to fill local news reporting gaps, particularly how these efforts test and support newsroom cultures and how news organizations maintain relationships with these communities after reporters have moved on from the programs.