Erin Texeira and the Narrative Journalism Movement

One of Yahoo News’ top stories of the day, at least in terms of popularity, is Erin Texeira’s Associated Press article titled, “Asian Youths Suffer Harassment in Schools.” It begins with the traumatic story of Chen Tsu, an Asian-American 18-year-old living in Brooklyn. Tsu was beaten, robbed, and left scarred and injured in what we’re left to believe is a racially motivated attack.

Tsu’s case is dispicable, even if it’s not racially motivated, but based upon a handful of such anecdotal stories Texeira wants us to believe school-yard harassment against Asians are both common and increasing. Yet no where in the article does Texeira offer any objective evidence, such as statistics or studies, that would lead us to believe it’s true.
The only thing that comes close is a 2003 California survey by an advocacy group which claimed 14 percent of Asian youth join gangs for protection. But this isn’t compared to other groups and states, and the objectivity of the group conducting the survey is questionable. Even if Asians are joining gangs at higher rates, which itself is questionable, there’s simply no reason to believe it’s due to increased harrassment.
Texeira is a member of the “narrative journalism movement” which seeks to report through stories and narratives. Narrative is acceptable and can be quite powerful, but if we’re going to label them “news,” such stories must still be supported by objective facts.
Texeira’s foundationless reporting might be excusable if she didn’t already have a history of it. In a story for the Los Angeles Times Texeira wrote that Filipinos were disproportionately favored for government positions and contracts in Carson, California.
But like the story above on alleged Asian harrassment, Texeira relied on a narrative technique that lacked objective evidence. Instead of concrete quotes and statistics Texeira hides behind words like “critics,” “observers,” “analysts” and “sources” without mentioning them by name. As one concerned reader wrote, Texeira’s article is “shoddy journalism at best and rank racism at worst.”
A brief search reveals that a signficant number of her stories are narratives on racial tension. For such a controversial, sensitive topic, one would hope the copy editors demand more substance from reporters. Erin once wrote that she is “of brown skin” and her racial identity is “complicated.” But her racial confusion should not manifest itself in confusing “news articles” that are simply powerful narratives.