In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, much of the focus was on the political actions of white women, including the 53 percent who supported Donald Trump and the millions more who made up the majority of the attendees at the largest single-day demonstration in America’s history. In reflecting on Hillary Clinton’s failed bid to become our country’s first woman president, what was lost was the narrative of the women who did show up to support her — specifically, black women.
This is not surprising. Black women are the most loyal and consistent voting bloc in the Democratic Party. They are also, arguably, the most neglected. A recent report on The Status of Black Women in the United States found that black women remain underrepresented at every level of state and political office, despite their role as super voters.
In key elections in 2017, black women again made their voices heard as candidates and voters, scoring victories in Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans, Virginia, and Alabama — a trend that will likely continue headed into the 2018 midterms.
So when are political journalists going to start listening?
Covering politics in the coming year should mean covering black women — the majority of who we mean when we say “black voters.” It will require rethinking who we mean when we say “working mothers,” “college-educated women,” “millennials,” and “values voters.”
The upcoming election season provides an ideal opportunity to turn a spotlight on black voters generally, and black women in particular. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress in 1968. California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris is being discussed as a 2020 presidential contender. Also in 2020, the country will mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote even as black women faced discrimination in their fight for the franchise.
For proof of why the black vote matters, journalists need look no further than December’s special election in Alabama to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In a state known as a Republican stronghold, turnout among black voters was higher than in 2008 and 2012 for President Barack Obama — shattering the narrative that black voters are less organized and energized than when the first black president was on the ballot.
Such a galvanized group of voters seems worthy of the attention of the press. Exploring their concerns and issues and framing them as part of the American electorate isn’t just a logical choice for the political class. It’s smart journalism.
Errin Haines Whack is The Associated Press’ national writer on race and ethnicity.
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms