Stories are bigger than themselves

Dear Readers,

The media and individual journalists are being vilified to a degree unseen before, all while huge revelations about toxic, racist, or sexist workplaces have been driven by people willing to speak out and the investigative journalists working to tell their stories. Coincidence?

Tension between the media and the powerful seems inevitable - no one likes being called out. But tired of the blathering of tech CEOs and investors on Twitter this week, Lioness sat down with features writer at The Verge, Zoë  Schiffer, to get a journalist’s side of the story. 

Zoë’s specialty is the stories of people behind the scenes, those without power and not visible to the public eye: the customer service reps at glamorous lifestyle companies, the nonprofit employees fielding suicide hotline calls, the people who see beyond the hype.

What motivates a journalist to do her work? Has journalism become all about the clicks? How have toxic workplaces become so newsworthy? Why are tech leaders and the media clashing so much right now? Are journalists “jealous” of power? Our personal favorite excerpt from this interview: I think there's a feeling now that journalists go out digging for negative stories. In my experience, sources reach out after they've tried to flag things internally, and it hasn't worked. I feel like it's part of a journalist's job to be a check on power — and sometimes that means talking to people who don't have a lot of power in the first place.

Read on for more from Zoë:

How did you get into this kind of journalism (investigative, features)? What about this specific beat (workplace culture at tech companies)?

My path into journalism was pretty circuitous. I'd wanted to be a writer when I was young, but when I graduated from college in the Bay Area all the jobs I could find were in tech. I worked as a content strategist at a tiny startup, then as a UX writer at Uber. I wouldn't say I was miserable, but I could never muster the rah-rah feeling that many of my coworkers exhibited. I started freelancing on the side, and got into features writing that way. As a freelancer, you don't really have the option to cover breaking news. You have to think of these weird and interesting stories that staff writers aren't already covering. 

I tend to write about workplace culture a fair amount. I find those stories really interesting — when I worked in tech, I saw firsthand how the company could make these really bad decisions, despite a whole bunch of people saying "these are really bad decisions." The system wasn't set up to kill a project once it was already underway — or elevate the voices of people who were flagging potential problems.

What drives your coverage, the types of stories you take on? A lot of people like to claim it is "clicks" - how would you respond to that?

The Verge doesn't make it very easy to see how many people read your work, and I personally work for an editor who is pretty unimpressed by clicks. That said, I think it's disingenuous for reporters to say they don't care at all about how widely a story is read (it's just not the most important thing). 

Another way to measure impact — and I personally find this more motivating — is what can change as a result of your reporting. If you're writing about injustice, and your story can be one small part of stopping that injustice from happening, that feels really worthwhile. 

I try to take on stories that I think represent something bigger than the narrative being described. Writers like Kashmir Hill of the New York Times do this so masterfully. It's a story about one AI company but what does it say about the future of privacy at large? 

Are there any stories about people in power that you or your editor have turned down? If so, why?

Yes — this happens all the time. I would say 90% of the people who reach out to me with a tip just have a kind of mean boss. That sucks, and I can empathize, but it’s not a story. If the tip is about a systemic failing that’s allowed the behavior to continue — or it reveals some sort of disconnect between how the company has marketed itself externally — that’s when it becomes newsworthy, to me.

What do you look for when vetting a source?

This is a big question, but a few places to start — does the source have physical evidence, are their accounts backed up by other people, is what they're describing a one-off instance or is there a pattern of the behavior. Also — what are their motivations for talking to the press?

What are the most common misconceptions about the media you would want to dispel?

I think there's a feeling now that journalists go out digging for negative stories. In my experience, sources reach out after they've tried to flag things internally, and it hasn't worked. I feel like it's part of a journalist's job to be a check on power — and sometimes that means talking to people who don't have a lot of power in the first place.

Why do you think tech and journalism have been at odds as of late?

I think each side sees itself as the underdog. Journalists often see themselves as highlighting stories of workers who do not have a lot of power. Tech executives and investors see themselves as defending founders who are being targeted by the media. It probably doesn't help that these discussions are playing out on Twitter — a tough place to have a conversation.

Why do you think toxic work culture has become such a newsworthy thing, when previously it might have been seen as "oh that's just business" or "that's just the way executives are/capitalism works"?

I think it's partly because we bought into the marketing — companies that didn't have an obvious mission, like WeWork, still oriented themselves as mission-driven. When the mission turned out to be a tool to get people to work harder and longer, it was crushing. That dynamic is pretty fascinating — often because it's so relatable.

Any stories of yours our readers should check out?

I wrote a piece back in April about how Medium became a central hub of coronavirus news and misinformation. Here's another about sexual harassment allegations regarding the CEO of an AI startup (he's since stepped down). And here's one about the CEO of a national nonprofit, who was accused of racial insensitivity by her staff.

Stories that have made their way to the media have given voice to the unheard and caused massive societal changes in their wake. A reminder that Lioness has partnered up with a top NYC law firm to provide free legal and media consultations for anyone who might have a story to tell, but is bound by a non-disclosure agreement. 

If this describes you or anyone you know, fill out our survey and contact form here, and we’ll get your contract reviewed and questions answered.

What we’re reading this week….

On the day the pandemic is declared, a reporter makes the first contact of what will be three months checking in with a billionaire he knows, recording their conversations. As the pandemic begins to claim more lives and more of the economy, it becomes quickly clear that millions of people’s suffering is only an abstract “huge opportunity” for the wealthy around us. The billionaire’s take, as the rest of our worlds’ crumble? “When you’re lucky, you just assume you’re always going to be lucky.”

From our readers, in response to last week’s newsletter on Pandemic Friend Drama...

There is a lot of displaced anger happening in the world. Beneath much of this anger is grieving. C.G. Jung said, “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” - Marleen Garza Gonzales

That’s our newsletter for this week! If you have any reader responses or stories of unchecked power, news tips, or unsung stories of your own to share - reply to this email.

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