April Media Brief: Editor's Note

I began working on the April Media Brief by simply reading the artifacts along with their contributors’ critical commentary. I read each contributors’ set of artifacts in the order we had them recorded in our collaborative meeting notes. As I read, I typed up notes on salient arguments in a google doc, which I later used to categorize the artifacts according to “themes.” All the while, I was also keeping in mind any literature references that I thought relevant. 

After I had notes on each of the artifacts, I began to think across them to develop common themes. I decided to stick with our habit of developing three themes, as I think it works best within the PECE Essay genre (i.e. each column has its theme). In order to develop the themes, I started cutting and pasting my notes on the artifacts under three headings (internet access, energy transition, inequalities). I then worked my way through the notes, attempting to weave my discussion of each artifact into a coherent discussion of the associated theme. In doing so, I also refined the themes. I broadened the section on internet into a discussion of efforts to expand access to energy services more generally. I added an ethical spin to the discussion of energy transition by adding the question of justice. And I chose to frame the discussion of racial inequity in terms of racial capitalism and disaster. 

At this juncture, I went back over each theme and thought about how to frame the relationships between them. A turning point came as I recalled that some of the programs I discussed under theme 1 (expanding access to energy services) were not being utilized due to distrust by Philadelphia’s communities of color. I remembered Randall’s historical analysis of Black distrust of the US healthcare system and returned to that article with a more critical eye to that discussion. After relating this distrust to the history of exploitation and violence experienced by BIPOC communities in the US, it seemed to me that racial inequality was present across each topic and that, therefore, racial capitalism could serve as a guiding frame for the whole media brief. I began searching through my notes and bibliographies on racial capitalism and enriched my discussions of the themes with citations and suggested further readings.