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Danielle Batist is an experienced freelance journalist, founder of Journopreneur and co-founder of the Constructive Journalism Project. She lived and worked all around the globe and covered global and local stories of poverty, exclusion and injustice. Increasingly, she moved beyond ‘problem-reporting’ to include stories about the solutions she found. She witnessed the birth of the new nation of South Sudan and interviewed the Dalai Lama. She reported for Al Jazeera, BBC and the Guardian and regularly advises independent media organisations on innovation and sustainability. She loves bringing stories to the world and finding the appropriate platforms to do so. The transformation of traditional media fascinates rather than scares her. While both the medium and the message are changing, she believes the need for good storytelling remains.
Street Papers: The Change Is In Your Pocket
For a significant period of my journalism career I was involved in street papers (like The Big Issue in the UK). Bought and sold on by people experiencing homeless and poverty around the world, these magazines offer much more than a good read. For vendors, street papers mean unique income opportunities where there would otherwise be none. They buy the magazine for half the cover price and keep the profits. The magazine enables them to run a micro-business. But beyond that, it offers discipline, self-worth, and a sense of connection to the community they are so often excluded from.
Two Big Issue vendors died in recent weeks. One of them, Chris McCormack, was a popular vendor in my home city of London. He sold the magazine outside Maida Vale tube station. Last year, he was quoted in an interview and shared an important lesson. The magazine’s editor referred to it in this article.
“Sometimes you feel invisible. If people acknowledge me and say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ that’s alright, at least they know I’m here and I’m getting a bit of social interaction with them.”
In the last week, readers and friends donated over £2600 towards his funeral.
But beyond giving money, this article reminds us that the easiest thing we can do to help people like Chris is simply to start acknowledging them. To say hello as we pass them on the streets. To smile. To make sure they know they’re visible.
