‘There are more stories to be told’
Q&A with Evelyn Kwong
Digital Producer, Social and Audience Lead at the Toronto Star
Reflect Reality: As Social and Audience Lead how have you been involved in the Toronto Star’s effort to diversify sources?
Kwong: My goal here is to find new audiences. I spend a lot of time meeting with new groups and talking to them, making a connection, [in this way] they also might end up becoming sources. I consult on stories in the newsroom to find a human lens or diverse voice, whether it is a female voice or part of the LGBTQ community, for example, because I have built these communities. People working in social media spend a lot of time building relationships.
My role molded into something different. Social media, before, was just posting stuff. Because there is a wide audience on social media, I thought it would be cool to find new groups of people and new stories. It all works in a positive way. There are more stories to be told, there are more voices to represent. Whereas if we just write the same story over and over, it's not good for the brand either.
Another part of my job with social is finding and putting out ideas for stories that I think would be more representative of people. Of course, there is [breaking news] that has to go out, but as much as I can I look to put diverse voices, opinions or contributors out there because those are the ones that will get hits.
RR: How do you cultivate these communities and find diverse sources?
Kwong: A huge amount of research. It takes a long time. Facebook groups are a good place to start. I do social media, so I see a lot of this stuff and a lot of influencers on twitter. You can find specific, different, tight-knit communities by searching actual cases like ‘black women of Toronto,’ and from there you can find an amazing source. It is weird to be so direct but at the same time, you can’t find people without doing it. If I need to find a sci-fi women's group, I'll go find them. A lot of the stories we've done with women and sci-fi result from reaching out to their [Facebook] group.
Sometimes I write stories as well, and a lot of stories I’ve written are a result of talking to these different groups. My latest one was about the Raptors and how basketball unites everyone, regardless of race or gender. I had been looking for basketball groups in Toronto, going deep into Facebook to find people and groups that generally don’t have a voice. We found a great Muslim all-female Hijabi ballers group. Now that we’ve built that relationship, they have been helping give us sources to other stories. I talk to them and give them my email and encourage them to contact me. I will often pass off the ideas and sources they send me [to others in the newsroom].
It is your duty as reporters to be curious and take that extra step. For me, reaching out and gaining trust, visiting a mosque, for instance, is a hard step. But that is how it should be if you are trying to represent a place like this [Toronto] properly. You must be curious and not just use [as sources] friends of friends you’ve spoken to before.
