Complicating the narrative training

“What if journalists covered controversial issues differently — based on how humans actually behave when they are polarized and suspicious?”.
Amanda Ripley in Complicating the Narratives (Medium)

Do you know what drives people and why they do what they do? Journalist Amanda Ripley was shocked to find out that she actually didn’t know so much about human behaviour and people’s motivations while working as a journalist. It wasn’t until she spent three months interviewing people who knew conflict intimately and had developed creative ways of navigating it, that she learned how to deal with polarizing conversations.
In the article about Complicating the Narrative, she writes how she ‘met psychologists, mediators, lawyers, rabbis and other people who know how to disrupt toxic narratives and get people to reveal deeper truths. They do it every day — with livid spouses, feuding business partners, and spiteful neighbours. They have learned how to get people to open up to new ideas, rather than closing down in judgment and indignation.

Ripley took those lessons and developed four steps for you to complicate the narrative:

Listen differently – give your source space and show understanding.
Go beneath the problem – ask questions that get to people’s motivations.
Embrace complexity – look at a historically and geographically different context.
Counter confirmation bias – amplify contradictions.

Options

Complicating the narrative – introduction

An introduction to the journalistic practice of Complicating (or Deepening) the Narrative that draws from the experience of experts in conflict mediation. The strategies and techniques help journalists tell richer and fuller stories about divisive issues – stories that illuminate and provide clarity and understanding, not further division.

Duration: 1 hour (online) | 1,5 hours (in-person)

Complicating the narrative – workshop

If you have been introduced to Complicating the Narrative already, this workshop creates a deeper understanding by using several exercises and assignments. After completion, you will feel confident and enthusiastic to apply Complicating the Narrative in your own work. It is possible to focus on one topic specifically. Optional: mentoring.

Duration: 1 day (online) | 1-2 days (in-person)

Complicating the narratives and decoloniality

Complicating (or Deepening) the Narrative strategies and techniques help journalists report on colonial history and how colonial influence works in our societies today. In training, you will learn about your positionality and objectivity as a storyteller, practice new storytelling methods and analyze CTN articles about decoloniality.

Duration: 1,5 hours (online) | 2 hours (in-person)

Mentoring

If you or your newsroom already use Complicating the Narrative in your work but you like an extra pair of eyes and honest, constructive feedback, you might want to consider mentoring. As a mentor, I guide you in the whole process of producing a Complicating the Narrative story, from the initial idea to the social media strategy.

Duration: per 30 – 60 minutes, frequency up to the mentee.

What CTN is not

Sometimes, to understand something well, it’s good to watch an example of what it is not. The interview Julia Hartley-Brewer did with Dr. Barghouti does not complicate the narrative. The Israel-Hamas war is one of the most polarizing topics and interviews like this will polarize the issue even further, making people lose trust in journalism and completely turn away from people who think differently. Read the full analysis here.

20 min. workshop

For the 2023 Complicating the Narrative fellowship I designed a workshop in which participants needed to design two characters with opposing views. Which questions would they pick for each character and is there anything they would avoid asking because of not wanting to choose a side, impartiality or fear of activism? The practice invites to self-reflect on your position as a ‘neutral observer’ and your ability to have difficult conversations.