Henry Jenkins blog analysis.

When looking through Jenkins' online site, I found this specific post very interesting. The blog post is an interview with Joe Stacco, a comics journalist.

At the start of the post, Jenkins talks about Huma Yusuf and her work in journalism. This section is a preface to the interview between Yusuf and Stacco, but it's still interesting to hear about the background of the interviewer nonetheless.

There is one quote within the interview from Stacco that resonates with me.

"I primarily think of myself as a cartoonist, but also as someone who is interested in political matters and what's going on in the world. I know there's a long tradition of illustrators dating back to the London Illustrated and Harper's coverage of the Civil War as well as another tradition of artists who deal with political matters, political cartoons, and editorializing news through pictures. In the end, though, my interests have just come together."

This is something I can connect to on a personal level, because originally my passion for art and my passion for political justice were very definitively separated - but as time has gone on they've merged together and I've found that my art and comics can be a very powerful political platform. Using art to discuss difficult subjects is something that works incredibly well in my opinion.

"Looking back, I think having myself in it is a strong part of the work, not because I want to be a character, but because I want to point out that this material isn't objective, this is my point of view, these are the impressions I got. I'm interested in the facts, but that's not the same as being objective. My figure represents the personal pronoun 'I' and emphasizes that this isn't 'fly on the wall' journalism."

I like the point that Stacco makes here. It's relevant to the comic I plan to create on this project, as I want to create something non-fiction for that aspect, but I don't want to make it completely devoid of all personality. Showing my own point of view alongside facts and figures sounds perfect for this project.

"By inserting yourself in the narrative, you can also write the stuff that journalists don't, for example, about how people interact with you. I want to get away from the pretense of the reporter as artificial construct. Reporters have feelings about a situation and that impacts the way they write. My work is a way to demystify a process that may otherwise seem strange to people."

This, to me, is possibly the most interesting quote from the interview. By including yourself in the work from the beginning, it allows people to more easily understand that they're allowed to question and deconstruct what is in front of them. I believe people aren't likely to question if a news article has any bias due to the format of it, and the way we've come to see reporters within society.

We believe that reporters will always be objective, but that's not the case. I think every reporter will show some influence of their own feelings within their work, and I don't necessarily think that has to be a negative. It's why I like to include myself in my own research, and be very open throughout that what I'm telling the reader is my perspective based on the things I have learned and seen.

This interview with Stacco is something I'd like to keep in my mind while creating my comic for this project. I think it'll definitely help when I get stuck to look back on this interview, so that I can see the perspective of someone who does this kind of work daily.