“WHETHER WE’RE TALKING ABOUT POVERTY, RACISM, CLIMATE JUSTICE, OR EDUCATION, THESE ISSUES ARE NOT JUST NEWS LINES BUT ARE PEOPLE’S LIVES AND DESERVE MORE THAN JUST A FLEETING MENTION IN THE LUNCHTIME NEWS BULLETIN.”
voice.wales was born out of what we identified as a need for a journalism that is carved around people, rather than around “toplines.”
At present, the Welsh media landscape is dominated by mainstream media outlets (BBC; ITV; Reach plc) which fail to consistently hold the Welsh Government and Westminster to account whilst rarely digging beneath the surface of major social issues.
This became increasingly noticeable at the start of the pandemic, where the media acted more as a middle-man between the Welsh Government and the people, rather than providing the necessary scrutiny we needed.
While the Welsh Government has taken a mildly different path to Westminster, they should not be “let off the hook” simply for not being “quite as bad” as Johnson’s cabinet.
They were still incredibly slow to implement mandatory mask-wearing and a nation-wide testing system, which, for the large part, is still vastly inadequate. Most recently they have angered members of the public by banning the sale of non-essential items during lockdown (with too much ambiguity around what is classed as essential and non-essential.)
The need for context
In contrast to some of the reporting of major news outlets in Wales, voice.wales has striven to expose the pandemic’s impacts on frontline workers, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, and the country’s poorest. We have consistently aimed to not simply scratch the surface of these issues but to delve deep into them.
The way in which the pandemic has played out in Wales (the huge strain on the NHS, shortage of PPE, care home deaths…) can of course be linked directly to a lack of action and preparation on behalf of the Welsh Government, but it would be ignorant to overlook the fact that these issues existed long before the pandemic – Covid-19 has simply highlighted and exasperated issues such as poverty, racism, and vast inequality.
These issues were born out of the Thatcherism of the 1980s and then decades of austerity – perpetuated by the current and recent Tory cabinets who have striven to make the welfare state increasingly smaller – as well as the continual structural racism which dominates our society and has seen Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities overwhelmingly exposed to Covid-19, unemployment and low-paid work, and overcrowded housing.
This context is largely omitted from the mainstream media: it’s too complex and nuanced to make it into bulletins and news packages. But this context is essential for understanding the Wales we live in today.
It’s also the case that such issues just haven’t been talked about enough. When Welsh Government passed down austerity budget after austerity budget, year after year, where were the big news outlets asking if they were at any point going to stop passing on damaging cuts? Instead the entire news agenda was framed around the need to cut the budget deficit – something that wasn’t objectively true.
These issues – whether we’re talking about austerity, racism, climate justice, or education – are not just news lines but are people’s lives, and they deserve more than just a fleeting mention in the lunchtime news bulletin.
These are issues that do not go away overnight, and for this reason, nor should reports of such suffering simply vanish into thin air as yesterday’s headlines do.
Instead, we aim to build our stories around interviews, and, rather than drastically cutting these down and packaging them into three-line quotations, we publish the majority of the full interview – while protecting our source identities when necessary – allowing the whole story to be told.
The importance of trust
A lot of our interviewees have opened up to us on the basis that we are not “the mainstream media”, and that indicates to us something we have that a lot of other media outlets don’t: trust.
Trust is essential in journalism, and the general lack of it in the mainstream media – due to the cut-throat nature of having to churn stories out quickly, and repeated false narratives around touchstone issues like Iraq and austerity – tends to be why a lot of people are wary of speaking to journalists, for fear of having their stories twisted, sensationalised, or dramatically cut-down.
So far we have already published a range of in-depth features which have taken weeks to research and write. Some of our interviewees underwent immense emotional strain to open up to us on this level, and we are forever grateful to them for this. Others were worried about their bosses finding out they’d spoken up, and in this case we emphasised to them the importance of speaking out, while of course hiding their true identities.
Earlier this year, one BLM activist admitted to us that she’d “never spoken to a journalist before.” She shared so much with us that by the end, she was crying.
If there is no platform for these voices, these stories simply won’t be heard, yet these stories – and people – are the fabric of Welsh society and it’s essential that a platform exists for them.
Independent not neutral
Another characteristic of the Welsh media, and the UK mainstream media, is its desire for impartiality – often perceived as a key component of journalism. However, this also contradicts, to some extent, the classic notion of the “watchdog” journalist – who is responsible for holding power to account.
The BBC model aims to give equal weight to two sides of an argument, for example, to display contrasting views: a right-wing contributor and a left-wing one, a “for” and an “against.”
While we’re an independent organisation that’s unaffiliated with any political parties, we’re not neutral when it comes to certain issues.
If 90% of scientists believe in climate change, but 10% don’t, why should you give equal weight to both sides just because an alternative view exists?
It is this lack of neutrality which has won us both readers and enemies.
Regardless, we’re proudly committed to anti-racism, anti-austerity, and climate justice, and we’re not going to sit on the fence when it comes to these issues.
These aren’t topics that should be debated by academics and politicians with no lived experience of such issues, but should be told by the people who are experiencing, and fighting, such challenges every day.
Why we need your support
We set up a Patreon in the hope of raising funds to help us provide a more consistent, and sustainable media platform which doesn’t just publish the odd feature but will provide daily analysis and reporting on the biggest issues in Wales.
All of voice’s editors, journalists, photographers and videographers have day jobs alongside voice, and any money raised through our Patreon will help us to pay contributors, develop our website, and buy equipment such as microphones and transcription software.
We’ve also got plans to set up a podcast in the new year, which will be based around ground reporting. We hope this will help broaden our reach but will also provide a platform for conversation, and perspectives, from the whole working class.
With Wales in the midst of repeated lockdowns, spirits are low and political disillusionment rife, yet we see this as an ever-more vital reason for a vibrant, independent Welsh media that provides context, analysis, and original, investigative reporting.
voice.wales aims to hold the most powerful to account, but also to provide a platform for the people who face the direct consequences of political decisions.
The writer is an editor of voice.wales and MA aduate from Cardiff University School of Journalism
