Macro vs. micro change

A couple nights ago, I wrote about an engaging memoir by Ian Stewart, including a quote from his book that doesn’t exactly scream “inspiration” for all the journalists in the house: “I knew I was a bystander who could do nothing to help, nothing to curb the bloodshed,” he writes. “I scorned my earlier naїveté in thinking my stories might change anything.”

And yes, I absolutely loved this book that, at times, paints a rather bleak picture of what kind of difference journalists can make – it was a question Stewart clearly spent a lot of time thinking about while in West Africa and since his return. But there are also times he speaks about the reporting he and his colleagues did in a more empowering light, such as this quote from the memoir’s epilogue:

For one brief glimpse, Africa’s wars and crises captured the world’s attention in the summer of 2000. In May of that year, Sierra Leone became a headline-grabbing story in the media as hundreds of UN peacekeepers deployed to halt yet another Revolutionary United Front assault on Freetown. I like to think the previous year’s reporting by Myles, David, and myself [sic] set the stage for the UN’s involvement.

With myriad resources at my disposal courtesy of internationally-minded friends and JHR, as well as the time to go through them afforded by my current delightful unemployment, I’ve been fortunate to give ample thought to my role and expectations going into Sierra Leone – and I will be striving to approach it a lot differently than Stewart.

Laudable though it may be, Stewart seems to have taken his post with impossibly ambitious goals, convinced he could make the world care about Africa by the quality of his prose alone. It betrays a sort of professional egotism I don’t think I have. And when it didn’t happen, it left him crushed and ill-prepared to cope.

Rather, I’m entering my position as a JHR trainer with the micro scale tops on my agenda. While I’d certainly like to freelance some work back in Canada and maybe even help a few readers gain a more nuanced understanding of a foreign situation, my prime concern is working with the journalists in Freetown.

In seven months, I can’t fix systemic problems with roots that run lifetimes beyond me. Hopefully, in between all the lessons I learn from my journalism colleagues, I can impart enough wisdom to effect small, yet prolonged and meaningful change that will have an impact on the future of the country’s media and, in turn, governance.

My goals, I think, are more achievable than those of Stewart. Now, I just need to learn from lessons past in order to stay within myself, or risk becoming overwhelmed and burnt out in my efforts to fix everything at once.