The power of human stories

Often, I find the most powerful stories are real and not from celebrities, politicians or public figures, the real powerful stories are from ordinary people who have either lived through something difficult or general life experience.

In the rolling news cycle where news breaks all the time, there is little time to go beyond the facts of the story and look at its impact on normal people. I see the best reporting and explaining what’s going on in our world today, is from the normal people.

I think it’s important we need to hear the voices who don’t often get a voice because they are often the people who feel the impact of cuts, rights being taken away who are the most disadvantaged. Often our clothes gadgets and almost everything is made in China.

These new technologies and platforms are valued in giving that voice to those who struggle to find a platform in the modern world. I think while it is important to hear from politicians and those in the public eye, you need to hear from the normal person.

You must be a little bit cautious with who is sharing, and whether its genuine. I don’t say dismiss the person totally, but think is that likely to have happened?

I think you can take a news story, and you will probably find someone you know or meet someone directly impacted by the story. I feel the facts and understanding the story is first, then the next thing is thinking who will be and how would I feel if that were me.

We tend to hear in the news about the event, say a natural disaster or a war, but the agenda quickly moves on. To understand the event and the impact on the people you need to go back, Lyse Doucet made a brilliant documentary in 2014, ‘Children of Syria’ and followed it up with ‘Syria: The World’s War.’

These programmes were made to go beyond the headlines, not to necessary explain why Syria was at war, but naturally, that fed in the core aim was to look at how the people caught up in this conflict were living and the impact on their lives.

Stories from our recent past I feel shows what we are doing to the world. I try not to be political here, but the people who are most likely to feel the impact of things being taken away will be able to tell what it’s like to be treated differently.

These people in some of the worst situations can make people more aware of what going on. We are not a perfect country, scandals like Winterbourne View shows that often the people who are ignored often are the ones who have the most appalling stories.

It’s easy to dismiss the homeless, the drug addicts, the people with nothing as its being their fault. But to understand why, some of these may have accidentally fallen into the wrong crowd, forced into it to situations threw debt which has got them into their current situations.

Sometimes the way history and events are dry in a sense, which only tell you when you read testimony this makes it human. We live in a varied country and hearing not the facts but how the event affects the normal person.

I remember the death of Nelson Mandela, but it came across as a celebration by black people twenty years after the end of apartheid. What he sacrificed so others can have the freedom they have, hearing the stories of whose life’s were changed by his campaign.

When you sit down doing both interviews and just chatting to anyone you meet can change your understanding of the topic, you can never be prepared for the direction they will take. You can do all the prep in the world, think you know the direction they would go and it takes another turn.

I often, refer to Komla Dumor, “Everyone’s got a story, whether they are a president, cab driver or waiter.” Every time I prepare to interview or hear another human story, he pops into my head. Dumor was a one of a kind if I can channel ‘energy and enthusiasm’ not as only a writer but in everything I do I’ll be happy.

Dumor also reminds me of a very important lesson ‘not to stereotype’, you don’t know what people have been through and that is true of his home continent Africa. I think it’s something we all need to learn, the empathy he had.

Sometimes the story of survival following natural disasters or accidents can be the most powerful. They give a personal perspective on the event; these go beyond the headlines. You can never know the stories which they will tell, often to understand the event you need the human story.

To show empathy as a reporter isn’t biased in my opinion, it shows you are human. We need to remember that while the job is to report the story, they need to adjust the way they ask questions and show understanding.

My Cerebral Palsy makes holding even simple conversations which I want to do difficult. People often say things like ‘it must be frustrating for you with your speech’, my answer is yes and no, what is more, frustrating is when people think it’s better to pretend to understand.

My story I believe some will find powerful, my story can be difficult for me to tell. But I imagine that for me, I don’t see it as anything special, my difficult as I know it could be. I sometimes think when I hear these stories of people who are worst off than me, I’m lucky.

The elderly I believe can have a valuable insight into the world showing how things have changed. Our media can be so focused on the next big story, the other night watching World News America I saw this reminder of now with the coronavirus how are the refugees going to cope?

The way we need to tell the story is through people, as part of the bigger story. To understand the global event, connect with the people who are not given a voice, I think that has to be the lesson from recent years and something we all need to do is listen to the people who voted for Trump and Brexit.

When I speak to people to do articles, I try to be lead by them, to let them tell the story how they want it to be told, we as writers when we talk about people need to see ourselves as the facilitators to allow people to tell their stories.

It is often the current affairs pieces I enjoy, these often are the stories of normal people who are affected by an event or lives that have been changed by events beyond their control. The long-form reporting without trying to rush it into your two-three minute reports on the news, these tell the whole picture.

We can also turn to books to find these incredible human stories; I think a physical book still has its place in the world. I know I’m very technical and an e-book would be easier, but there’s something about physically holding a book and reading I like.

I read a lot of non-fiction, travel and holocaust books; I admit that I’m not a devout reader normally takes me a year to read a book. But they can grip you and you might get a fresh perspective on the history and the world in which we live.