133. You Are What You Read
Jodie Jackson on a new global network, changing our media diet & the world
Jodie Jackson is an author, yoga practitioner and media campaigner. Her first book is titled ‘You Are What You Read: why changing your media diet can change the world’. “Information is to the mind, what food is to the body”, she says. And after becoming a mother, and seeing the news affect even her small children, she wrote the children’s book ‘Little Ruffle and The World Beyond’.
All this stemmed from years of looking deeply into the psychological impact of the news. Yes, she discovered no shortage of negative impacts from the barrage of negativity and misinformation. But she also discovered plenty of evidence of the beneficial effects of more constructive news on our wellbeing and society. Not ‘feel good’ puff pieces - more rigorous, whole-picture reporting. And there began Jodie’s at times deeply challenging journey of writing the books, speaking regularly, and just last week, launching a global News Literacy Network.
“And finally, I include solutions. And if you don’t actively seek them, you will not see them. And without them, we really are psychologically starving ourselves from understanding what we could be capable of, either individually or as a society. ”
The by-line for the network is ‘empowering a more accurate worldview’. It says on its website: ‘We must develop the necessary skills to stand guard at the doors of our own mind. Our personal wellbeing, and wellbeing of the world depends on it.’
I first came across Jodie in the terrific news outlet Reasons to be Cheerful a couple of years ago, via a profoundly consequential piece about the responsibilities of media during pandemics and other major disease outbreaks. In it she alluded to the book she’d just written. So I reached out. And after a few twists of fate, we just happened to get together for this conversation the day after the new Network launched.
This conversation was recorded online with Jodie at home in London, on 16 August 2022.
Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.