Hello there, friend,
A while ago I told you that I took a break from social media, and from various social groups, for a bunch of reasons. I don’t regret this decision to leave apps and digital spaces.
By the time I hopped back online election season was already well underway, the school year cooking, and my workload growing. WOOP!
With that in mind, I think it’s a great time to revisit my election spiels for the sake of my sanity and yours:
- I don’t post my political opinions purely for professional reasons.
I work as a freelance digital journalist during election seasons and, as such, don’t like offering the appearance of impropriety. This is especially true during the weeks and months of the presidential election.
To be clear: I have a political opinion and perspective, vote in all elections, and have voted in this election. When asked, I am willing to explain my vote with trusted confidantes. I don’t, as a practice, endorse candidates during election cycles.
If you need to make a plan to vote, do it now! Vote.org is a great, general, non-partisan resource. If you are a UMD student (hi friend) you can visit Terps Vote too!
- Please let me know if you see a profile, message, or story with my name on it that doesn’t match my vibe.
Given the rise in fake news and the occasional places you may see my bylines, I want to encourage caution. If you know me, be weary of profiles asking for account access codes, messages with troubling links and stories that read less like my reporting and more like fake fodder.
Also, be weary of claims of political bias from myself or my colleagues and peers across news organizations. I don’t say this to discourage skepticism or interrogations of the media. Rather, I say this because claims can be motivated by political goals and (when unproven) can be damaging to myself, my peers and my social groups.
Help me keep the infosphere a bit safer, pookie! If you aren’t sure if I wrote or posted something you can reach out to contact@ivylyons.com and ask
- I don’t intend to disregard or disrespect you on the basis of political opinion.
This is a given. I’ve had a lot of experience across partisan divides and prefer academic spaces that offer more space, not less, for majority and minority opinions. Your speech and opinions are yours and mine or mine.
Be weary: all paychecks are just money and I don’t make space for hateful rhetoric, baseless claims and harmful nonsense. As a rule, interacting with my social media with reckless abandon is welcoming a response. Respect will result in respect. Disrespect and hate may result in an unpleasant gathering.
Don’t create an opportunity to be gathered, please. My fingers grow weary.
- I differentiate fledgling media criticism and opinion writing from reporting. You should do the same.
If you see “commentary” or “opinion” or similar signifiers next to my name, consider those A WORLD AWAY from my reporting. Those things are my public statements and opinions that I am willing to share and defend, for academic or professional purposes.
If it isn’t clear, those items are representative of myself and/or the people/causes I represent in those spaces. None of those items act as explicit endorsements of any candidate or party. Some may be endorsements of causes but are not drafted and filtered through traditional news editorial processes.
Opinions aren’t reporting. My name can be on both.
- My personal opinions and biases don’t directly affect any journalistic reporting, which tends to go through rigorous editing processes.
This final point so crucial that I built a whole webpage about it we. My ethic is built on being a human with a job—leaving a lot at the door for a check, but maintaining my personhood. My chaotic, fun-loving personality is very much academic-first, and I love having my opinions off to the side where I can learn and grow through them.
Life experiences inform but don’t press publish on a news story, if that makes sense.
Outside of the newsroom, I have hot takes for days on a variety of topics. Inside the newsroom I rarely if ever report on those topics. When I need to report on those topics there are editors and team members who curate my writing. These groups of communicators don’t always think like me, look like me, or share my political views. It makes the space beautifully heterogenous, flawed, kind.
With that, I take my leave! You can find my work around this website and continue following me around the internet at your will.
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Go vote and catch my memes in cyberspace,
Ivy
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