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Feeling stressed about the election? Follow this advice from a young Arizona journalist

George Headley in KJZZ's studio.
Amber Victoria Singer/KJZZ
George Headley in KJZZ's studio.

How many of you are waking up every morning, grabbing your phone and swiping through a stack of notifications that make it feel like the entire political landscape was remade overnight? Or perhaps more accurately: How many of you are doing that every hour on the hour?

At this point in a presidential election cycle, it can feel like you’re stuck at the foot of a mountain, with a nonstop avalanche of breaking news boulders barreling towards you.

Well, take heart, dear listener. George Headley, college sophomore and politics editor at State Press, feels the same way. And he’s found a way to maintain sure footing amidst the shifting narrative sands.

Headley joined The Show to talk about one night, back in high school, when he had a fateful conversation with his mom.

Full conversation

GEORGE HEADLEY: I remember this very vividly. We were on a walk one night and we both had like this crazy like anxious conversation about like, you know, what if the next day, you know something on the news like shows up and we can't really handle that or we can't really like think about it.

So we took two different approaches, I think, from that night. Ahe took the approach of, “if I can't see it, it's not there.” And I kind of took it as like, “well, everything's going to be happening either way and I take the responsibility and maybe, you know, show it to other people,” you know. So we took it in two different very parallel perspectives.

SAM DINGMAN: Am I hearing your, like, origin story as a journalist right now? Like, I mean, was that because, because what you're describing is the work of a journalist, you know, it's like, it's my job to engage with the information and then figure out how to reflect it back to people in a way that is a little bit more manageable. Was that the first time that thought occurred to you?

HEADLEY: Yeah, absolutely. I just got really into the sense of like, I want to do this, like I want to be like that messenger, you know, take it as you want, but this is what's going on.

DINGMAN: So can you give me an example of an early story that you wrote that was in that spirit?

HEADLEY: Yeah, of course. I think the biggest one was, so I was writing for the State Press as a community and culture reporter for my first semester. And I was writing about a safe space for LGBTQ+ organizations and people, like a place where everybody from different cultures can interact and be in a place where they feel comfortable and safe, right.

And the space wasn't being made, and previous offices or places for them were being closed off, basically, they're being used for like administrative offices and that kind of stuff. And I wanted to take it in a way where, “OK, I have a privilege as a journalist to say this to a large group of people.”

And the idea was: Here's what's going on. Here's the experiences, the issues that some people in these organizations have been experiencing with administration, you know, a code action to the administration be like, “hey, you know, step up, let's like really talk about this. Let's engage a conversation.”

DINGMAN: Yeah. So it's very stirring to me, you know, hearing you tell that story and like how much of an awakening it was for you to go from having this realization on the walk with your mom to doing that kind of coverage that answers that calling that you first felt.

But you also, in this piece, are talking about something that I don't think maybe journalists in particular talk about as much, which is like everybody else, even though you have this calling to be the messenger, as you put it, you talk about how you have your own tendency towards the doom scroll, towards just kind of letting the stories wash by and feeling like it would be detrimental to let this in because it could become demoralizing.

So, as a person with the journalistic calling to be the messenger and a human being and a college student dealing with this influx, how do you experience that tension and how do you get yourself out of it?

HEADLEY: I noticed it very heavily during this summer specifically because, you know, I love journalism because I loved writing, right? I loved being a storyteller and love telling narratives. But this summer, I was given the opportunity and the privilege to be the politics editor at the State Press.

DINGMAN: Did anything happen in the, in politics this summer? I'm not, I'm just imagining like, you know, if you're, if you're like a budding journalist and somebody's like, “hey, do you want to be politics editor this summer?” There's a presidential campaign going on and you're like, “sure,” And then it's like, “oh, here's something that's never happened before.”

HEADLEY:  Yeah. No, it definitely felt like that because I was like, you know, how do you really tackle that change and being a college student, you know, right out, fresh out of high school. It's like, I'm still learning, I still don't really know what I'm doing. And that does translate a lot into like, “OK, well, neither does anyone else.” This is the responsibility I was given. This is a job I need to do, so I'm going to do it and it's, it's a lot, it is a lot.

DINGMAN: What you're talking about, George, I have to say is a kind of extraordinary level of self-awareness because you're right. You have chosen a life path that necessitates you being the eye of the storm.

HEADLEY: And I think a lot of people also deal with this when it comes to anxiety is, you never want to think about the future, right? You never want to think about what's ahead because it does worry a lot of people and does stress them out. But I like to think, “OK, I'm not there yet. I don't really know what's going to happen from it. So to worry about it or to think about it in the way that you know, oh my gosh, this is so huge. Like this is so massive, we just don't know yet.”

DINGMAN: You're talking about something so nuanced right now, let me make sure I understand, is that you feel the anxiety of knowing that what's happening is very intense and potentially world historical. But, you also know that sitting in that anxiety is not good for you, and yet you also have the responsibility of trying to make the most educated calculation you can of how people are going to look back at this. Are you saying that the attempt to make that calculation helps with the anxiety?

HEADLEY: Yeah, it does a little bit because when I'm making that calculated guess, it's usually never right.

DINGMAN: I almost feel like you're saying, let's go ahead and acknowledge like yes, this is massive. Let's treat it like history in the moment. And if in the future, it turns out to not be significant, the worst that can be said is that we took it seriously.

HEADLEY: Yeah, exactly.

DINGMAN: I realize, you know, we're tilting in this conversation almost toward something that's too inside baseball. But like, I think the thing that isn't hopefully inside baseball about it is I, I think what we're really talking about is it's an exercise in presence and finding a sense of purpose, keep maintaining a sense of purpose and it's action oriented. So that, if the experience of information overwhelm for a lot of people is paralysis and despair. Like what you're talking about is, “no, there's a story to be told about this and I will tell that story.”

HEADLEY: If I'm going to think about this and I'm going to think about it, you know, and I'm going to have anxiety about it, why not cover it, right? I think that does help my anxiety a lot, is to just be involved because I'm no longer thinking of it as a world-ending experience. I'm thinking of it as a story.

DINGMAN: Wow. I think that is kind of at the core of what really resonated for me about your piece is that basically what you're talking about is agency.

HEADLEY: Yes.

DINGMAN: And how easy it is with the way the news is delivered now and particularly during an election cycle to feel like you don't have agency.

HEADLEY: You know, when you look at an algorithm, especially on like, TikTok or whatever, right? You think about it in the way businesses want you to think about it where it's like, you know, we're going to give you exactly what you want and sometimes for people it's what they're most scared of, right?

They're most scared of these things and they want to be more informed about it because if they're not informed about it like me, it can create anxiety and it create this, you know, this more fear because you don't really know what's going on, and the algorithm adapts to that.

And when that happens, I think a lot of people are like, “oh my gosh, the algorithm is targeting me, you know, with all these like basically these crazy things,” but in all honesty, it's just, it's perception of you as a person and what news you want.

DINGMAN: Yes, it's treating you like the message, but you're the messenger.

HEADLEY: That’s pretty deep.

KJZZ's The Show transcripts are created on deadline. This text is edited for length and clarity, and may not be in its final form. The authoritative record of KJZZ's programming is the audio record.

Sam Dingman is a reporter and host for KJZZ’s The Show. Prior to KJZZ, Dingman was the creator and host of the acclaimed podcast Family Ghosts.
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