RIP Kevin Headley, who died too young - like too many homeless people

Kevin Headley graduating from the FDGU journalism training programme at Groundswell/photo: Veronique Mistiaen

This is what I find most poignant:  Kevin, wearing his ubiquitous black hat,

looks straight at the camera. In his deep, quiet voice, he says: “Life expectancy for rough sleepers is probably between 42 and 47.”

Kevin was interviewed for a video during an awareness day at the homeless charity Groundswell.  People who have experienced homelessness, NGOs and members of the public had been invited to discuss how to improve public perception of homelessness and create engagement. As always, Kevin came armed with lots of statistics and strong arguments.

A few weeks later, he was dead. 

Kevin Headley, who sold the Big Issue outside Hackney Wick station in London for many years, died in hospital on May 5 after suffering a suspected heart attack. He was only 52. 

Homeless people die on average 30 years younger than the national average, according to a study by the homeless charity Crisis. These statistics are a terrible indictment of the way our society treats homeless people - and something that Kevin campaigned and worked hard to change.

I’ve met Kevin at Groundswell in September when I began training a dozen of people who were homeless or had experienced homelessness on how to be journalists.  The six-month project, called From The Ground Up (FDGU), is a collaboration between Groundswell and the Pavement, a pocket size magazine (and website) full of useful articles and resources for homeless people. The FDGU project is funded by Comic Relief.

FDGU’s aim is to equip “peer journalists” as Groundswell calls them with the tools they need to identify and report on issues important to them – issues often overlooked by the mainstream media.

The peer journalists had decided to report on shame experienced by homeless people and the impact it has on their health, well-being and ability to improve their situation. Kevin didn’t like that theme because he strongly felt that homeless people have nothing to be ashamed of and that it is society, which should be ashamed. And of course, he was right. The peer journalists also  wanted to talk about suicide, which is much higher among homeless people than among the general population. They’ve produced amazing work, which has been published in the Pavement in Jan/Feb 2018 and Marc/April 2018 and they keep contributing to the magazine.

During our workshops, Kevin would often sit on the side, hiding behind dark glasses. At first, I thought he might be dozing off, something not unusual as some peer journalists spend their nights on the streets or in noisy hostels and night shetlers. But there was always a mischievous smile on his lips and then, when feeling inspired, he would make a contribution – not always on topic, but always full of facts and interesting ideas. He had just been given his own page in the Pavement – the problem page, “done with a light and practical touch”, as Nicola Baird, the Pavement's editor described it.

He drew beautifully and loved working with artists and curating local art events and festivals.  He also worked as “health peer advocate" with Groundswell, helping people who are homeless access appropriate healthcare.

Kevin had so much to live for. He was dearly loved by so many and was full of projects and ideas. Let’s never think of Kevin as just another dreadful statistic. Homeless people shouldn’t have to die young. Homelessness is not inevitable.

Constructive Journalism Comes to North Africa

Journalists from Libya, Tunisia and Egypt analyzing the balance of news in their respective media at the MiCT Tunis Constructive Journalism Workshop/credit:Veronique Mistiaen

“Wouldn’t constructive stories belittle the problems we are facing?” asked the tall Libyan journalist.   “If we write stories with a constructive angle, how can we make sure that they won’t be used as propaganda by the regime?” the thoughtful Egyptian journalist wanted to know.

These were some of the stimulating questions journalists from Libya, Egypt and Tunisia asked during the very first Constructive Journalism Project’s workshop in the region.

The political and media landscapes in post-revolutionary North Africa are not only very different from those in the UK and EU, where we have been running most of our workshops – but they are also different in each of these three countries.   This led to very interesting, challenging and passionate discussions.

Nineteen journalists participated in a three-day Constructive Journalism workshop in Tunis on November 25-28 arranged by Media in Cooperation in Transition, MICT, a German non-profit organization that runs media development projects in crisis regions. In addition to working for various  media outlets, many participant journalists also contribute  to Correspondents.org, a bilingual digital magazine (Arabic/English) designed by MiCT to cover three countries.

We began the workshop by analyzing the various newspapers/media they work for, discussing the balance or imbalance in the news and its impact on the readers/audiences, on major issues such as migration and climate change and on democracy.

Constructive Journalism was a new and rather unfamiliar concept to all participants, but they could see the need for a journalism that moves from the crisis rhetoric, trying instead to capture the complexity of social and political life, reconnecting with communities and reinvigorating our profession.

We then explored practical tools journalists could use in their own reporting in order to produce stories that are more balanced, explore new angles and possibilities and ask different questions to those in power, the experts and the so-called victims.

During our last session, the journalists pitched constructive-angled story ideas for Correpsondents.com. These included stories on a Libyan port city, where the community and police worked together to drive traffickers out; transitional justice in Tunisia; projects to get young people off drugs in deprived areas in Libya and a profile of a young female hero from Cairo’s Tahrir Square.  

“In our country, more than 90% of the news is on war and conflicts – who wins and who loses. Everything else is ignored,” a Libyan journalist said. “Now we have the tools to change that.”

Media Diversity Institute – towards a more inclusive, ethical media

One of the reports produced by MDI

Reading or watching news reports on conflicts, immigration, minorities and other controversial and sensitive issues, I often wonder whether journalists do more harm than good.

Journalism can be one of the best tools for change and can play an important role in the fight against ignorance, prejudice and bigotry. But it can also exacerbate divisions and tensions, and fuel fear and hostility. 

We have seen extreme examples on how the media can incite hatred and violence in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. But most of the time, the media’s unhelpful coverage of minorities and sensitive issues is unintentional. It stems from ignorance, sloppy journalism and lack of time. Many stories on immigration in the UK or about Roma in Europe, for example, don’t quote immigrants or Roma, but only experts and members of the public or groups objecting to them.  Not surprisingly, these stories lack important information and empathy.   Over-stretched journalists simply don’t have the time to search for the right people to interview - and the 24h news cycle and ever-faster pace of social media are exacerbating the problem.

I recently had an interesting conversation with someone who has worked on these issues over the past 15 years – and made a huge impact: the amazing Milica Pesic. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Media Diversity Institute, a charity which promotes responsible journalism as means to lessen inter-group conflict, increase tolerance, encourage dialogue among individuals and groups coming from different backgrounds and support a deeper public understanding of ethnic, religious, sexual and gender diversity. They do this through research and professional media training. 

“Responsible, ethical journalism is thinking journalism. It provides fair, accurate, informed and reflective coverage of events and issues that are important to people and society,"  said Pesic.

MDI was born out of the wars in the Balkans some 15 years ago. Pesic, worked as a journalist for TV Serbia during the 1980s and early 1990s. After refusing to participate in the propaganda machine created by the Serbian regime, she was sacked from her job. Horrified by the unprofessional and unethical way the media fuelled the conflict by increasing tensions between ethnic groups, she decided to setup MDI as a way to prevent the media being used in this way.

From initial work in South East Europe, MDI took its expertise to the volatile Caucasus region, and then to the Middle East and North Africa, and South East Asia. Over the last few years, MDI has brought its experience from more troubled regions to address tensions in increasingly diverse Western European societies. 

In our highly divided and divisive world and our rapidly-changing media landscape, organisations like MDI are more needed than ever. But I am wondering how to extend these ideas and training to the millions of people on Twitter, FB and other social media…