‘Tell your own story’

is a media initiative that uses a story-based approach in local media to promote empathy and inclusivity in our communities.

A lot of what we read in the media about different communities and cultures tends to focus on differences and puts distance between people, even creates and reinforces stereotypes. But there is actually so much that is shared across communities and cultures! TYOS seeks to highlight these very things that we share. Our international team work with different local media organisations to write and talk about experiences and emotions that unite us and that everyone can relate to. It is our hope that this will create understanding and empathy in the community and lead to a reduction of fears of and stereotypes about different identities and cultures. 

TYOS Training

TYOS Training

Next Training Opportunity for New Members

  • September 2024 - watch this space for exact dates. Sign up to receive email updates

  • Training is free of charge and includes:

    • Self-Empowerment

    • Empathy-building

    • Transculturality

    • Media production training (writing, podcasting, video journalism)

We welcome all people whose voice isn’t usually heard in media: People from different ethnic backgrounds, gender identities, age groups and people with disabilities.

What we do

 

  • Trained team members are contributing to the diversity of voices in local print media, radio and TV stations by giving accounts of their lives, culture and experiences including widely misunderstood or controversial concepts that serve as obstacles to respect, cooperation or understanding.

    Our stories focus on what we share across communities. Such stories may promote tolerance and inclusivity, expand our knowledge and understanding of the others and help us to build bridges between communities, identities and cultures.

  • Training for new TYOS team members: cultural awareness, transculturality, self-empowerment, transcultural communication and media training. Please contact us if you are interested in joining.

  • A media assessment survey to establish and map the media channels consumed by the general public. Drawing on the survey results, two analytical research projects are currently being undertaken:

    (1) A corpus-linguistic analysis of Irish print and digital media to reveal wording and terminology typically used to refer to people from other cultural backgrounds and to identify main myths about ‘foreigners’ in the media.

    (2) An investigation of the degree of diversity in media organisations and their workforce.

 

Background

Since 2021, twenty trained members have come together regularly to work on a new media initiative called ‘Tell your own story’.

The project encourages people of diverse backgrounds and identities to ‘tell their own story’ in Irish media and to give readers and listeners a glimpse into their lives. The ultimate aim of ‘Tell your own story’ is to highlight what is shared across cultures and identities and to promote empathy and inclusivity in the wider community.

The idea was initially presented by Maria Rieder as a response to racist incidents that took place on the University of Limerick campus and Limerick city in 2021. These included sustained intimidation and verbal abuse of PhD students from Algeria, many of whom are Muslim.

The project comes from the premise that stereotypes and discrimination arise due to fears of the unknown, a lack of knowledge in the community and an inflated perception of difference between people. Stereotypes may be based on first-hand and single experiences with members of stigmatised groups. Most importantly, however, stereotypes are driven by second-hand information and mass media exercise great power over their audiences: prolonged exposure to biased media content has the potential to cause highly automatic attitudes and behaviours towards other cultures and communities.

‘Tell your own story’ aims to counteract this with a regular, media-based intervention for stereotype and prejudice reduction in local news media. With the support of lecturers in Journalism and practitioners across different media types, the project participants have been trained in interculturality, the Irish media landscape, writing for media, videoing and the creation of podcasts and radio shows. Since then, the members of the group meet regularly to build the campaign, to identify outlets and to write and produce.

Thinking about joining us?

What do we expect from you?

Values

● An open mind and dedication to amplifying the voices of all identities and communities

● Contribute to and protect our safe space for all our members, contributors and their stories

● Bring kindness and positivity to our group

● Be an ambassador for TYOS and its values

Training

● Attend our training course (4 Saturdays in September, provided free of charge)

● Engage in upskilling activities

Attendance, contribution and engagement

● Attend meetings where possible

● Actively contribute to the group and media outputs

Empathy

Let me hold the door for you.

I may have never walked

a mile in your shoes,

but I can see that

your soles are worn

and your strength is torn

under the weight of a story

I have never lived before.

So let me hold the door for you.

After all you’ve walked through,

it’s the least I can do.

-Morgan Harper Nichols

 

Maria Rieder

Maria is the founder and project co-lead of TYOS. She is a lecturer at the University of Limerick and works in the area of language and the media with a special interest in minority communities and human rights.

If you would like to contact Maria directly please email Maria.Rieder@posteo.net

 

Marta Giralt

Marta Giralt is project co-lead of TYOS. She is a lecturer in Spanish and Applied Linguistics at the University of Limerick.

 

Anita Barmettler

Anita Barmettler is project co-lead of TYOS. She is a lecturer in German at the University of Limerick.

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