The journalism world is pretty small. For journalists who identify as trans, that world felt even smaller — until this week.
TJA members don’t pay dues, and the group’s nontraditional leadership structure means members have a direct say in its decisions.
TJA is not affiliated with the National Association for LGBTQ Journalists (NLGJA). In an
interview with NewNowNext
, TJA’s founding members point to issues with NLGJA’s programming and the group’s name, which they say leave trans journalists feeling like an afterthought.
In your interview with NewNowNext, you referenced seeking out a trans community among journalists and not finding one. What services do you hope to provide TJA members, and hope they can provide each other?
Dejean
: Like other marginalized groups, trans journalists often lack access to networks and mentorship that provide opportunity, career advancement and support. One important thing our association provides is access to each other in an industry that's often hostile to trans people. That access allows us to support one another, mentor and seek mentorship from other trans journalists, and share opportunities.
Additionally, we provide resources to support trans journalists within newsrooms. We have
guides
to help employers make their workplace more trans friendly and support employees making a gender transition. Additionally, we've created a
comprehensive styleguide
to help journalists cover our communities with more sensitivity and care. We hope this improves coverage in our industry by being a resource journalists can use to better educate themselves and take some of the burden off of individual trans journalists who often have to push editors and other news leaders and fight for stories to be told with accuracy and respect.
What else do you want journalists to know?
Dejean
: Only about a quarter of Americans know a trans person, meaning media coverage greatly shapes our public discourse around trans communities and issues. That means journalists have a huge responsibility to get their coverage of trans issues right. Too often, they fail in that responsibility. That failure harms trans people because it shapes the way the public thinks and talks about us. I want journalists to know they need to take the responsibility much more seriously and do the work to improve trans coverage.
