The Occupation Style Guide
Responding to the moment and the message
While Backspace was conceived as our team’s primary media critique product, it was clear after the events of October 7, 2023 that a more reactive analysis of the media’s coverage of the war in Gaza was also necessary. As media literacy was our goal, we developed the series alongside the head of AJ+’s copy-editing team. We wanted not only to critique and contextualize the editorial practices of other news organizations but also explain AJ+’s approach to coverage of the ongoing conflict, too. When words and framing have as much impact as the content of the story itself, having a style guide to follow helps us hold our attention on what actually matters.
Roles: Researching, Producing, Editing, Motion Graphics
Recognition
While the series was unfortunately cut short due to production conflicts and our lay-offs from AJ+, our colleagues at the Online News Association recognized the value and vision of the series. The Occupation Style Guide was awarded the Online Journalism Award for Online Commentary.
“There’s a lot of conversation about how social media is not journalism, but this is a powerful piece of journalism that meets consumers where they are with a target demographic. We know trust is an issue and this is making a conscious effort to build trust and to address media literacy, and they have a form that can be scaled.”
Other short form work at AJ+
Roles: Researching, Producing, Editing