One morning in the not-so-distant past, I noticed that a Real Change vendor had sent me a DM.
Darrell Wrenn was offended by a comment that a person had left on social media describing Real Change’s journalism as “terrible” and how they hated choosing between supporting a vendor and supporting “propaganda” that promotes ideas that would make life worse for low-income people.
Wrenn pushed back in the polite way that he has, going so far as to tell the poster to get in touch with me, the editor, about a potential op-ed. I gave the thumbs up. We run oppositional content — we are not a newspaper that’s afraid of criticism, although, dollars to donuts, that person will never contact me.
To be honest, I’m almost glad the poster read enough of our paper to feel confident calling us “propaganda.” I guarantee you that we have loyal customers — some who buy more than one paper a week — who never read an article and send their copies straight to the bottom of the proverbial birdcage.
People assume this is a charity project. They’re wrong.
Real Change is a 28-year-old news publication that wins awards for reporting and design, but remains something of a hidden gem.
We’re a small team with a smaller budget that adheres to the same code of conduct and standards of journalism as any of our peers. Our journalists are journalists, and their job is to examine the output of institutions of power and elevate the voices of people — real people — who feel the impact of the resulting policies. To do that, associate editor Tobias Coughlin-Bogue and staff reporter Guy Oron submit documents requests, interview sources and go out into the field, just like any other journalist in the city.
To wit: Coughlin-Bogue used a request to report out what people mean when they say a homeless person “refused services.” He found that people declined services that didn’t meet their needs or felt riskier than staying outside.
This wasn’t news to him. He could have run with his personal observations from the encampment sweeps that he goes to practically every week or the conversations that he has with people experiencing homelessness when he visits their tents, RVs or motel rooms and they choose to trust him with their stories.
In this case, those experiences underpinned his work, informing his questions and directing his reporting. In others, he weaves the anecdotes with the data, creating pieces that are fact-based and, at the same time, painfully human.
Oron’s sourcing within the Seattle community is without peer. He came to journalism from activism and organizing, and he knows the issues that people face and which need more sunlight. Look to Oron for original, data-driven reporting on the operations of the City Attorney’s Office one day and to the impacts of caste discrimination on Seattleites the next. He saw the fruits of his labor on the caste story — which printed in May 2022 — manifest this year when Councilmember Kshama Sawant announced a measure that would prohibit caste discrimination in the city.
Real Change operates from the same guiding principles and practices as other news outlets, but it is also unique in Seattle’s thriving independent media landscape. We produce our work within the confines of a 12-page print newspaper in which each page is dedicated to a specific type of content. Each image must be planned for not only to illustrate the story but to fit the page.
Arts editor Henry Behrens is a wizard of design who crafts our centerfold, curates our arts page (page 8, if you aren’t familiar) and works with talented artists to create evocative covers. They are also a perfectionist, tweaking fonts, adjusting color schemes and ensuring that each page is as much a pleasure to look at as it is to read.
Real Change is my third newsroom and by far the most collaborative. We sit together multiple times a week to plan the story budget. One reason is that we need to make sure we’re telling unique stories — we’re the last living weekly in the region, and we won’t be reacting to daily news in the same way as other outlets. We have to do things differently.
The other is that every person in this newsroom comes with different areas of expertise, life experiences and skills. We save each other from mistakes that could cause harm. Good journalism is a constant act of curiosity and humility, and at Real Change, that starts within our team and radiates out.
I tell you all this because people can’t see what we do to put the paper out every week. They make assumptions about us and our vendors, many of whom, like Wrenn, take pride in the product that they sell.
So, to that poster, I say: Thank you for buying the paper and supporting our vendors.
To the rest of you: Crack the damn thing open.
Ashley Archibald was the editor of Real Change through July 2023, and is now a communication specialist for Purpose. Dignity. Action.
Read more of the Feb. 8-14, 2023 issue.