All TV news broadcasts typical start the same: the reporter's face appears on the screen, then they tell someone's story.

Eight NWT residents flipped the script on that formula this Saturday at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.

Turning Points SA国际影视传媒� a series of short documentaries profiling local residents, including writer Catherine Lafferty, Yellowknives Dene First Nation Chief Ernest Betsina, and Arctic Wellness Foundation executive director Donald Prince SA国际影视传媒� begins each film with residents telling and resolving their own stories.

Presented under the University of British ColumbiaSA国际影视传媒檚 Global Reporting Centre, the project's producers contacted former radio broadcaster William Greenland to act as a liaison.

SA国际影视传媒�(The project addressed) the idea of how journalists cover and Indigenous stories about a very touchy topic, about addictions,SA国际影视传媒� Greenland, who also was a subject of the films, said in an interview. SA国际影视传媒淎nd sometimes in the past, when journalists did these stories, they made it their own story rather than the individualSA国际影视传媒檚 story.SA国际影视传媒�

This can lead reporters to mischaracterize stories in their journalism, he said.

For example, it's an addiction story: SA国际影视传媒淪A国际影视传媒極h, the problem is that they just drink too much.SA国际影视传媒� And then when those stories come out, SA国际影视传媒榩eople say thatSA国际影视传媒檚 not my story. ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 the journalistSA国际影视传媒檚 story,SA国际影视传媒�"  Greenland continued.

Recently, the trend notably presented itself when the on

SA国际影视传媒淥ur story is addictions to us SA国际影视传媒� started out as a coping mechanism to deal with our past trauma. And they never asked us about it (in past reporting),SA国际影视传媒� Greenland said.

Understanding these stories beyond the stereotypes involves including the interviewees in the editing process of each individual piece.

It also involves building trust before telling someoneSA国际影视传媒檚 story, he said, allowing residents to see themselves in their stories.

This was the practice for Turning Points, he said. It was a good feeling when no one pulled out SA国际影视传媒� proof of concept that they felt accurately represented, according to Greenland.

SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 because they did their work and they were listening to us.SA国际影视传媒� he said.

Britney Dennison, producer of Turning Points, said the project aimed to approach journalism differently from the parachute model, where journalists drop in to tell stories to far off audiences.

SA国际影视传媒淭he stories donSA国际影视传媒檛 tend to come back in the communities. They donSA国际影视传媒檛 live in the communities. People go without a lot of context, knowledge of the lived realities,SA国际影视传媒� Dennison said.

The production team considered how to do this differently.

The team determined addiction and alcohol use, especially in Indigenous communities, accounted for some of the poorer representations in media.

SA国际影视传媒淲e were thinking this is a story thatSA国际影视传媒檚 very difficult to tell. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 a challenging story to tell, so we came up with this concept: What if your interviewee was part of your production team?SA国际影视传媒� Dennison said.

The subjects of each story consequently had creative control, and the ability to withdraw if they were unhappy with the process.

They did pre-interviews, where the interviewees outlined what they wanted to say and reporters asked what questions would be helpful. After producing a draft, the interviewees could approve or disprove the content.

SA国际影视传媒淵ou could tell us you donSA国际影视传媒檛 like the first draft. We missed the point. Maybe we need to redo it, maybe we need to re-shoot,SA国际影视传媒� Dennison said.

This isn't usual practice, largely to keep the editorial process independent from the subjects of a story.

There's insight in the changes, however. In the videos, alcohol or addiction is rarely at the forefront, as the stories follow intervieweesSA国际影视传媒� individual paths to healing, education, and resilience.

For Dennison, this presents stories that depart from the usual representations in media, which also benefitted from time and resources that are sometimes unavailable in daily news reporting.

SA国际影视传媒淔or the people who donSA国际影视传媒檛 know the process and might just stumble across this video, what ISA国际影视传媒檓 hoping comes across is a more nuanced story -- a story that is more grounded in context and experience and more true to the person,SA国际影视传媒� she said.