Framing Ethical Storytelling/ Telling Stories Through an Ethical Lens

by Kimberly Anindo

We use stories to capture our realities, they’re how we understand and interact with the world. Stories are also the fundamental building blocks of societies. They can positively or negatively affect communities in real time. True stories involve collaboration and an understanding of each other’s perspectives. Without this, we unknowingly reinforce bias and contribute to incorrect perceptions about people, cultures, and communities.

In a nutshell, ‘ethical storytelling is sharing narratives committed to honesty, accuracy, and empathy with an awareness of their potential impact on people’s lives’ (Alameda, 2023). Ethical storytelling aims to undo the problematic narratives of the past whilst focusing on compassionate storytelling for the future. It constantly evaluates the methods in use to improve how stories are told. 

If you haven’t heard of ethical storytelling; it’s a huge component of the development sector. Non-profits use storytelling to help people better understand their mission and compel them to take action (Alameda, 2023). Storytellers are responsible to those whose stories they tell. It is their job to look beyond the obvious and include those on the periphery because nothing takes place in a vacuum.

As Sophie Otiende said to Photographers Without Borders, ‘your story is not a single narrative. If you write a story about a survivor, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. So you need to research and find out what are the stories out there about survivors? What is the general narrative? Is my story going against it? How is it contributing? In most cases, you’re not the first person to tell the story.’ (Photographers Without Borders, 2020)

Although Sophie’s quote is about survivors of human trafficking, it holds true for any story being told about people’s lives. Assuming a general narrative breaks the first rule of ethical storytelling: unrealistic expectations. This is borne out of simply working on good intentions, that is to say, it’s not enough to think and believe you’re doing good without actively questioning the process and the final product. 

When Michael Kass worked housing young homeless people, he remembers the portrayal of them having overcome their challenges after receiving housing (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.). He says the focus of the story then became the largest challenge faced with a failure to recognise the smaller challenges that had more incremental changes (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.).

Both these examples show how unrealistic expectations dumb down a story. They are only the highlights and according to Michael this can ‘betray the complexity of what it takes to overcome’ (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.). This can do a lot of harm to people and communities by giving meaning, definition, and education through wrongful narratives. 

The dilemma in ethical storytelling is framing. There is a constant need to ask how information about someone can be presented to an audience in a way that respects dignity and is empathetic, without leaning on sights and sounds that invoke pity and remove agency from the story subject; returning them to a helpless victim who without help fails to see a way out of their situation. 

When looking at the problematic areas of storytelling, most deal in perceptions. How will the story subject be perceived when photographed or filmed in a certain way? We perceive development through media frames, what we now call ‘poverty porn’ was once the rallying call to action. Framing the narrator as different from those watching or involved in the storytelling sidelines the golden rule – empathy. 

In ethical storytelling, empathy is the ability to convey a story in a way others can understand or relate to. Empathy requires emphasis on growth, resilience and potential over hardship, destitution, and problems. 

Gabriele showcases a good example of this with his photograph of a grandmother with her grandchild during a health crisis. He said, ‘I deliberately chose to avoid depicting any expatriate doctor or NGO personnel with [them] but showing a family member taking care of another family member in a way that…anyone that has children [can] relate to them.’ (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.)

When Gabriele chose to decentre non-profits and NGOs as the heroes he tackled rule number 3 – power dynamics. Framing is equally important here as power dynamics can portray others as helpless victims. They can also look like pushing someone to tell a story they’re not ready to share. Both are dishonest and show a lack of transparency in the process of storytelling.

Ethical storytelling should be accurate, qualified, and informed information. Accurate is ‘representative of the individual and truthful’ (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.). Qualified is remembering the story is a snapshot; that this is a person, not a spokesperson (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.). Informed is backing up the story with research, supporting data, and a wider historical and cultural perspective (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.).

There is no perfect process and mistakes can happen. The fear of telling a story wrong can deter some storytellers. This can be as small as a mismatched name and face during post-production or as important as telling someone’s story in your own words. However, storytellers can stay informed by speaking to others and researching allowing a consistent monitoring of the process and correcting errors as they come.

To err is human and the art of storytelling should not be considered so serious and devoid of any fun that we fall into telling stories that aren’t aesthetically pleasing. Mama Hope’s video ‘African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes’ is a great example of fun ethical storytelling. Their video challenges negative perceptions lightly and humorously whilst getting the point across – without demeaning the storytellers. 

Stories remain beautiful even when showing the severity and gravity of an emergency. Ethics do not mean leaving out the aesthetics, but the story’s agenda matters. Asking why this story is important and why you, as a storyteller, want to tell it can help you evaluate where you stand and how to get to its end having achieved your goal and respected the wishes of others.

Obtaining consent to document what has or will be shared is crucial in allowing for continued ownership of the story and an all-round transparency of the process. Within this, storytellers have to be careful not to retraumatise their story subject. 

Re-traumatisation can occur at any stage of the storytelling process. It is often overlooked by assuming healing is complete, when at times it’s still in the process. And whether unintentional; it can be damaging to the narrator. To refrain from inducing trauma, a keen storyteller will ask questions that are defined positively, for instance, what is your greatest accomplishment? (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.)

During the interview process, stop and check in with the narrator to examine how they’re feeling and if they’re happy to continue on. Re-traumatisation can also come with the impact of a story, sometimes much later, when positive things are happening. Storytellers are encouraged to create and maintain open communication, so individuals can voice concerns.

This is not to say that there are no intentional bad actors, for example, BBC News Africa covered a ‘charitable’ organisation focused on rescuing trafficked African children. Allegedly, the charity founder was, without consent, using the images of young children to solicit donations. 

Not all stories have to be trauma forward. Documenting joy is a good way to show the resilience of people in difficult situations or their happiness despite the circumstances.

Images of community in action during emergencies ascertain they aren’t waiting to be rescued but are active contributors in turning the tide. There is a lot of grey area for images to be perceived as contributing to negative stereotypes, therefore some may require extensive context including names; how they got there; individual experiences; and the stories of those involved (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.). 

However, judging what is necessary for context can be difficult. There may be a need to withhold some parts of the interview with the story subject because it does not serve the story and would ultimately contribute to a helpless victim narrative. The takeaway is good judgement takes time. It has to be actively practised by listening and observing others. 

One way is to build up strong local partnerships with the individuals or groups making the difference (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.). Another is to provide training on ethical storytelling not just for your team but for the changemakers on the ground – with time this will allow them to tell their own stories (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.).

As for organisations, make ethical storytelling a core value and not a periodic tactic (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.). This will elevate the way your stories are told by expanding who contributes to them. Ethical storytelling should be part of the work culture you would like to foster. As Helen Warren put it, there needs to be ‘positive peer pressure to raise standards and hold one another accountable.’ (Ethical Storytelling, n.d.)

Works Cited

Alameda, L. (2023, May 15). Ethical Storytelling: A Guide for Nonprofits. Retrieved August 13, 2024, from Non Profit Pro: https://www.nonprofitpro.com/article/ethical-storytelling-a-guide-for-nonprofits/

Ethical Storytelling (n.d.). Ethical Storytelling 101 [Webinar]. Ethical Storytelling. Retrieved August 13, 2024, from https://ethicalstorytelling.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Original.mp4

Ethical Storytelling (n.d.). NGO Ethical Storytelling: How To [Webinar]. Ethical Storytelling. Retrieved August 16, 2024, from https://ethicalstorytelling.com/resources/

Ethical Storytelling (n.d.). Storyteller Ethical Storytelling: How To [Webinar]. Ethical Storytelling. Retrieved August 13, 2024, from https://ethicalstorytelling.com/resources/Photographers Without Borders. (2020, 24 August). How to Tell Ethical and Empowering Stories, from an Advocate Uplifting Human Trafficking Survivors. Retrieved August 13, 2024, from Photographers Without Borders: https://www.photographerswithoutborders.org/online-magazine/sophie-otiende