Episode 227: How to find accurate news in unprecedented times, with Elizabeth Segran

Welcome to Clotheshorse, the podcast that was considering calling this episode “Newsies,” but realized that it might cause some confusion and/or bring in some very disappointed musical theatre fans.

I’m your host, Amanda and this is episode 227! Over the past few episodes, we have been talking a lot about how to be okay and stay hopeful. Clotheshorse will never not talk about clothes in one way or another, but it’s evolving and growing into basically “how to do good things in a difficult world.”  Or “how to be okay in perpetually ‘unprecedented’ times.”  I was feeling a little nervous about this new evolution in Clotheshorse, but I have received so much positive feedback from all of you.  Thank you to all of you who have been supportive of my exploration of new topics and information. I mean, almost five years into this, of course the messaging and the topics will grow and shift, right?

Well, I am so excited about this week’s episode! I am joined by Elizabeth Segran, Senior Staff Writer at Fast Company Magazine. I knew that I wanted to do an episode about the news and media and I really wanted her to be the guest (because she is smart and rad)…so I am very thrilled that she is here with us this week.  And we are going to be talking about all things news-ish..but we did not discuss the 1992 musical film “Newsies.” I’ll have to follow up with her about that one. 

Instead we will be tackling  some really important questions:

• How can we tell the difference between editorial/opinion pieces and news reporting?
• Is it dangerous for people to get their “news” solely from social media?
• Is there a “Hippocratic oath” for journalists?
• What are the processes journalists and news organizations follow for verifying that information is factual?
• How have budget cuts (and a shift in the entire media industry in the digital era) impacted how fast news is reported? Has it changed what it is covered?
• How can we fact check the things we see online?

And of course, so much more!

Before we jump into that, I want to discuss something else very important…and that’s a challenge-slash-collective-action for March.  I’m calling it REDUCE, REFUSE, RESIST.

I am sure you have been hearing about an economic protest called the “Feb 28 Economic Blackout.” Organized by a group called The People’s Union USA, this protest consists of a 24 hour blackout from buying anything: shopping at big box stores, eating fast food, getting gas, you name it…one full day of spending no money. The group has other economic blackouts planned for March and April, all short term, usually focusing on one specific company.

The goal here: well, it’s multi faceted:

• Get companies to restore their DEI policies
• Force companies to become more responsible to their employees and customers
• Get business leaders to pressure the United States government to end some of its current actions, including higher tariffs, deportations, threats to Canada and Greenland, the erasure of trans people, mass layoffs of government employees, and so on. TBH I could be listing things all day here. 

While I think this kind of activity can be very effective, it requires EVERYONE participating if it’s a very short term action.  Like if only some of us don’t spend money on 2/28, it probably won’t change any company’s behavior, much less the government. To make matters more complicated, often people who participate in a short term blackout like this will overshop/stock up in the days leading up to the protest, so basically, billionaires still get their cut of everyone’s paycheck.

That said, in my experience as a buyer and working within the retail industry, slow sales for a more extended amount of time DO have a major impact on company decisions (and could get these companies to pressure the government, too).  And in my opinion, it needs to be at least a month of slow sales…enough to make a bad quarterly earnings report (which will send executives into a tizzy).

So that’s where all of us come in…we’re going to REDUCE, REFUSE, RESIST in March:

• We are going to REDUCE our spending with big companies.  I recommend getting started with Walmart, Target, and Amazon.  If you can absolutely 100% avoid all three of these completely, AMAZING.  But if you can’t (for many valid reasons), then just cut your spending with them.  Buy necessities, but skip out on impulse purchases and “just for fun” shopping.  Go to these stores with a list and don’t add anything else to your cart.  And if you live somewhere without Walmart, Target, and Amazon, you probably have some evil mega corporations that you want to avoid, so make your own list.  And for all of you who are like “I already skip Walmart, Target, and Amazon,” add some more companies who don’t share your values to the list. While you’re at it, skip SHEIN, Temu, and all of the fast fashion brands. Break your AliExpress habit.
• At the same time, we are going to shop SMALL and/or SECONDHAND when possible, so that small businesses don’t lose out in the midst of all of this.  They are already facing a lot of obstacles in the current economic climate.  We don’t want them to disappear. Many of the things that we need throughout the month can be found with small businesses and/or secondhand. I actually think doing this mindfully for a month will change how we shop FOREVER. 
• Next, we are going to REFUSE to fall for any promo codes or hot deals these big companies send our way throughout the month (because they will), no matter how hard it is. And we will also REFUSE to be talked out of this reduction in spending, no matter how many times people tell us we’re being silly or that boycotts are a waste of time. We will REFUSE to be persuaded by influencer marketing or listicles telling us that we “need” new clothes or makeup or this amazing gadget.
• All of this is RESISTANCE to what’s happening right now…yes, we’re dealing with some terrible stuff here in the United States. But honestly, no matter where you live, in a time of global mega conglomerates and technocrats, engaging in REDUCE REFUSE RESIST is important and impactful.

So yeah, we’re going to do this for the month of March.  And while we’re at it, let’s get started on February 28!

Why should you get involved? Oh man…how much time do you have for me to list everything out?  Here’s just a few reasons:

• You hate the way companies prioritize profits over people in every situation, including the way they treat their employees, disregard the quality of life of the humans who make the products they sell, and even don’t care if they sell low quality product to their customers.
• You believe billionaires should not exist. Full stop.
• You want to force change within your country.
• You care about our planet and its people and you recognize that overconsumption and overproduction is having a profound negative impact on this planet…as well as our own financial and mental health.
• Or maybe you just want to get better at buying small, local, and secondhand….so this feels like a great reason to get some practice and build new habits.

It goes without saying that while it’s easy peasy for some people to skip Target, Walmart, and Amazon (maybe you’re already doing that every day), for others, there are issues of access and affordability.  TBH, it was really difficult to shop local and small in Austin for a lot of things. We opted for Costco over Target, but that didn’t always work either because Costco sells a select set of things and most are in quantities that are quite large for a two-person household.  But still we had a car and that opened up access to places that were further away for us.  

There are many reasons why completely skipping big box stores is just not an option for someone, and TBH, it’s none of our business and we don’t need to pry about it.  Maybe Walmart is the most affordable grocery option where you live. Or you need window blinds and they have the only ones you can afford nearby.

These systems aren’t set up for us to easily live our values. In fact, the odds are stacked against us, as big companies make it really difficult for thoughtful, ethical businesses to grow and thrive (or exist at all).  

So if you can’t skip completely…that’s okay! Do your best by cutting back to just the necessities and try to skip the fun stuff for a month. Or get the more fun stuff somewhere else.  Whether Target is the only place that has clothes in your size that you can afford (and want to wear)…or Walmart is the only place to get groceries…be gentle with yourself and do what you need to do. I often worry that the pressure for “purity” that we see/feel on social media actually ends up frustrating, discouraging…and ultimately, disconnecting us from working for a better future.

BUT don’t over shop. Don’t buy things you really don’t need or wear.  Reining in your spending has major impact, too, because companies like Amazon and Walmart only thrive when we are all buying a ton of stuff we don’t really need. I promise if a huge group of people is spending 20-30% less with these companies…that DOES make a major impact, too.

I know that changes like this can be scary and stressful, so I’m here to support you.  Each week in March (probably on Wednesdays), I’m going to do a livestream on YouTube where we can talk about how we are doing and challenges we are facing. I’ll share helpful tips like how to shop secondhand like a pro and where to find common household items without shopping from Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Stay tuned for more details about all of that.

Later this week, I’ll be announcing REDUCE REFUSE RESIST on social media, and I hope you will share your commitment to participate in this with YOUR community of friends and family.  We can’t shop our way to a better world, but we CAN resist what late stage capitalism and the rise of fascism are currently doing to this world.   And I want to warn you…there are people who are going to tell you this is a waste of time. That it won’t work. That it’s stupid. That you’re taking the lazy way to activism. Or any of the numerous doomer takes I see on these conversations across the internet.  Here’s the thing: buying less, withholding our money…it’s actually radical and revolutionary in a consumer driven economy. In the US, consumer spending is 70% of the economy. So yeah, what we do and do not buy has major impact. And while it’s hard to change our habits, we are going to have to do it eventually if we want to shift the direction of climate change (which we can also do if we’re working together). So let’s get directly involved in a better world RIGHT NOW.  REDUCE REFUSE RESIST!

Okay, now with all of that, let’s jump into my conversation with Elizabeth Segran of Fast Company!

Thank you so much to Liz for spending some time with us! I had such a great time and I hope she comes back to Clotheshorse again. She definitely made me feel like we’re going to get through this together.  You can of course find all of Liz’s great work at fastcompany.com, where she covers all kinds of business issues, with a particular focus on sustainability and innovation. Also…Liz is working on a children’s book about….SLOW FASHION! I’m so excited about this because (as we talked about in the capitalism board games episode) what we hear and learn as children really impacts our behavior and values as adults.  So Liz will have to come back when her book is released so we can talk all about it!

Before we wrap up this episode, I just want to recap Liz’s tips for reading and processing news. Why? Because knowing the facts is actually a form of resistance in a time where, well, lots of people just don’t want to know the facts!

• First things first: don’t get your news from social media.  Or at least, not solely from social media. As we said in our conversation, in the best case scenario, the nuance isn’t there. In the worst case scenario, it’s misleading or completely untrue.
• Next, fact check what you see in social media posts.  It’s as simple as doing an online search.  You can use google (but skip the AI answers) or any other search engine. Look for articles from reputable news sources. Some will have paywalls, but look for one that doesn’t.
• READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE. Not just the headline.  Not just the first sentence or paragraph. This world (and its happenings) are complicated.  Nuance requires more than a few sentences or a 30 second video to explain it all.  So read the whole article. Also, in the digital age, most headlines/titles online are based on SEO (search engine optimization), so the title might not convey the content of the article at all! It might just be comprised of key search terms that will enable people to find it when they do a google search of that subject.
• Don’t be afraid to follow the thread and go down an information rabbithole. For example, when I was fact checking a claim a post I saw on social media about the US giving all of this money to Israel, but then only $700 to survivors of the LA fires (from that account seastersjones)…well, I learned so much other stuff that actually made me take some action as a concerned citizen:
  • First, I learned that obviously fire survivors would get more than $700 in assistance in the long term, that’s just an emergency payment for necessities. But $700 seemed so low to me.  It turns out that the number is dictated by Congress, so I wrote to my Congressman about increasing the initial FEMA payments to align with cost of living increases.
  • Next, I learned that–you guessed it–Congress actually determines the assistance and weapons sales to Israel. The President can say no, but Congress actually has the jurisdiction on that and it can override the President. So we need to reach out to our Senators and representatives to tell them we want less funding for Israel in the future. I emailed my Senator about that…and let’s just say he replied with a very unsatisfying reply…but now I know who we pressure for changes.
  • And one last thing I learned from an amazing ProPublica article that American weapons manufacturers have actually been aggressively lobbying government officials to get them to agree to huge weapons sales to Israel…for obvious, not-all-super-dark-and-horrible late stage capitalism reasons. I still don’t know what I’m going to do with that information, but I’ll share the article in the show notes.

Not every fact checking mission is going to be this intense, but knowing the facts can only make our actions more effective.

• And oh yeah: support the news.  I am a big NPR supporter (sustaining supporter here, which means I donate every month), but you can subscribe to your favorite news source. You could even share subscriptions with a friend or roommate!

Yes, things are hard right now. Sometimes it’s really hard to stay optimistic and motivated. It might seem unlikely, since I’ve been over here spending so much time working on Clotheshorse stuff over the past few years, trying to spread the word and motivate people to work together to change the world. But yes, I get that feeling of hopelessness, of powerlessness quite often.

And then I have to remind myself that yes, one person can’t change the world on their own, but when many (or even ALL) of us are making a concerted effort to do things differently and better, CHANGE DOES AND WILL HAPPEN.

When we work alongside one another, social change begins. Over time, what we think of as normal day-to-day life changes. I have seen it play out over and over in my lifetime:

❊ Once upon a time, phones were landlines and answering machines existed. Then there were beepers. Then flip phones. And finally smart phones, and suddenly we can listen to podcasts, read the news, and talk to others no matter where we are or what we are doing. That’s a major social change that is completely normal now.

❊ Shopping online? That changed how and when we shop. Malls died or changed. Catalogs disappeared. I remember when people were AFRAID to shop online!

❊ Shopping secondhand has become more normalized, too. Raise your hand if you were teased for wearing used clothes as a kid. 

All of these big changes began with early adopters and gradually spread to the mainstream. And guess what? WE ARE THE EARLY ADOPTERS OF SLOW FASHION (and I guess, SLOW EVERYTHING). We are the resistance. We are radical and revolutionary and what we do matters!