Three Black journalists weighed in on the reckoning taking place in newsrooms across the nation as they work to amplify Black voices and representation both internally and externally.
NPR’s Ari Shapiro did an interview with Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and an investigative reporter with CBS Chicago; Astead Herndon, national political reporter for The New York Times (NYT); and Keith Woods, NPR’s chief diversity officer and longtime print journalist.
Here are five takeaways from the interview.
Highlighting the fact that many newsrooms have predominately-white management, Tucker said there are “firestorms literally across the country” in newsrooms.
“I have heard from so many of our members in small towns, in big cities, in print and television. They are all rising up and, basically, saying we want our voices heard; enough is enough,” Tucker said. “They are all getting together and going to their white – predominately white managers and saying this is what we have been going through; this is what we need to be addressed.”
Herndon echoed Tucker’s words, pointing out how Ida B. Wells’ was portrayed as a “mulatress” and “race provocateur” in the obituary written by the Times for bravely writing from a Blakc perspective.
“In the way that we now see, she was kind of clearly describing, particularly, lynchings in the way the white media wasn’t seeing. I think that that has been, historically, the role of Black journalists, and that’s the kind of tradition that a lot of Black journalists see themselves in,” Herndon said.
Woods said the momentum being experienced today is largely due to young journalists who refuse to just wait on the status quo to change leading the movement.
“It does feel different, Ari, and I think it feels different in the way that the country feels different right now, beyond the newsrooms,” Woods said. “I think that this drive that we see in newsrooms is coming, in large measure, from younger journalists who don’t have the patience to wait for the country or for the news organizations to figure this out.”
They also discussed how objectivity in journalism often equates to the white way of doing things, how current events are affecting Black journalists’ mental and emotional health and being pigeonholed into an only-Black beat.
Woods said “objectivity has been used as a mask for all of the dominant views present and operating in our organizations, across race and gender and sexuality. It has been a lie from the day it was first uttered just because we are human beings and couldn’t possibly achieve it …”
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Tucker said she agreed with Woods, adding “it’s humanly impossible … to be objective. You bring to the table who you are. But as a journalist, you are fair, and you are accurate, and you are balanced.”
Adding Black reporters are often unable to climb the ranks and get widespread exposure because they are often pigeonholed into only covering black stories, Tucker challenged the news industry to do better.
“Here’s where the racism comes in, Ari, for Black journalists. Because we are Black, it is assumed that we are going to do a better job covering the Black community. So what happens? We end up getting pigeonholed. We end up covering most of the Black stories, much of the Black crime, much of the Black community then,” Tucker said. “And we end up being marginalized. And then it’s difficult for Black journalists to then get the promotions that they desire, to get the experience in other beats and to grow other skills. So you have to be really careful. You know, you have – you’re constantly fighting back saying, yes, I may be the best, but do not pigeonhole me.”
When Shapiro asked how newsrooms could “strike a balance” between having diverse voices, but not leaving the tough work of race up to Black reporters, Herndon said they needed to look at every aspect of a Black reporter’s identity and what they can bring to the table, not just their race, to avoid the “insidiousness of underrepresentation.”
“I was just in Tulsa for the president’s rally, and those things are so baked into race and whiteness and identity. And I think that being a Black reporter does not just mean your experience has allowed you to cover Black people well, but also understand the way that race and politics is on the forefront of people’s minds and not a kind of side issue,” Herndon said.
They concluded answering Shapiro’s question about how it feels to be on the front lines during this moment in history.
Tucker said many members of NABJ were “suffering” and “going through trauma” because of the relevance of the stories to their lives, but they know “our voices are important” so Black reporters will continue to fight.
Herndon said he felt “vindicated” because of the many times he and his peers tried to convince white editors and supervisors “that this was the story.”
Woods summed it up with something that has been viral for the past few months across social media: Black people are tired.
“If you’re trying to figure out why now, what is the thing driving this reckoning moment in news organizations from Black journalists, it is that tiredness. It is that pain. It’s all of these things that people have been saying for decades were wrong now showing up in our lives and in our deaths across this country, pushing people,” Woods said. “So yes, we’re wrecked, I think. But you see the expression of that now on the streets in the country, and you see it now rising up in our newsrooms.”
