When Empathy is Not Enough: The Possibilities for Solidarity in the San Francisco Homeless Project

• In Event: Constructive Uses of Journalism

Abstract

Journalism that seeks to humanize marginalized communities can advance social justice by appealing to collective solidarity. News reporting, however, often appeals to readers’ empathy instead of solidarity, which risks increasing the audience’s compassion fatigue. This paper examines mechanisms of empathy and solidarity in representations of homeless people in two news outlets that participated in The San Francisco Homeless Project. The Project was a collaborative journalistic effort in June 2016 that called for attention and action to address homelessness. The San Francisco Chronicle’s coverage focuses on idiosyncratic reasons that individuals become homeless, which encourages empathy. In contrast, AlterNet emphasizes shared conditions that homeless people endure as a community, which invites solidarity. This distinction is important because strictly evoking empathy may erect a barrier to social change as people feeling sorrow for homeless individuals often become pessimistic, while appealing to solidarity invites readers to view social change as achievable through collective action.

Author

• Anita Varma, Stanford U