Bright light can be unforgiving.
For years, journalists of color have been working to illuminate the systemic racism that our field has been content to keep hidden. In 2020, the spotlight was glaring. From Philadelphia to Los Angeles, very candid, very public declarations from journalists of color about their experiences working in this industry exposed a painful part of our collective reality.
In 2021, we will see a shift from conversations about the grave inequity faced by journalists of color, particularly women journalists of color, to actions that address these structural inequities.
This year’s JOC tweet threads and columns and websites were a rallying cry for change and accountability. More than a few media executives were shown the door — either because that ousted person was actually problematic, or because something unacceptable happened under their watch and someone had to take the fall. In some instances of masthead turnover, there were other demands — lists drafted by journalists of color — for measures that create environments of belonging and for behavior change.
In 2021, these lists must be front and center in the push towards more equitable structures. If we could speak it into existence, 2021 will be the year when newsroom leadership will start doing the hard work — whether by choice and good intention, or economic and social pressure — that it takes to make our industry more equitable.
This must include industry leaders being more proactive than reactive. Diversity and inclusion conversations and interventions — almost always focused on numbers, compliance, and representation — will instead zero in on the policies, people practices, and workflow that enable real equity in a newsroom.
This will mean, for example, conceptualizing equity as something not separate from paid parental leave policies and the health benefits offered to employees. This is the year we see DEI resources invested in legal and IT to protect and support reporters targeted by online violence and abuse, which disproportionately impacts women and women of color. An equitable structure demands honesty and transparency and calls out racism and oppression, both overt and systemic, and builds power and momentum towards achieving goals while encouraging the grace and humility to sustain the endeavor. (Shout out to PolicyLink for the inspiration for Resolve Philly’s definition of an equitable structure.) 2021 will force newsroom leaders to address how they are — or aren’t — meeting these demands.
There is a tectonic shift happening in which people are speaking their truths and media companies are called to task to answer. There really is no other option here. We cannot truly consider ourselves stewards of public trust and information if we aren’t embodying equity at every level. In 2021, journalism will get its shit together. For the sake of democracy. For the sake of our economic future as an industry. For the sake of the communities we serve. For the sake of the people we employ.
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes are the co-executive directors of Resolve Philly.
Bright light can be unforgiving.
For years, journalists of color have been working to illuminate the systemic racism that our field has been content to keep hidden. In 2020, the spotlight was glaring. From Philadelphia to Los Angeles, very candid, very public declarations from journalists of color about their experiences working in this industry exposed a painful part of our collective reality.
In 2021, we will see a shift from conversations about the grave inequity faced by journalists of color, particularly women journalists of color, to actions that address these structural inequities.
This year’s JOC tweet threads and columns and websites were a rallying cry for change and accountability. More than a few media executives were shown the door — either because that ousted person was actually problematic, or because something unacceptable happened under their watch and someone had to take the fall. In some instances of masthead turnover, there were other demands — lists drafted by journalists of color — for measures that create environments of belonging and for behavior change.
In 2021, these lists must be front and center in the push towards more equitable structures. If we could speak it into existence, 2021 will be the year when newsroom leadership will start doing the hard work — whether by choice and good intention, or economic and social pressure — that it takes to make our industry more equitable.
This must include industry leaders being more proactive than reactive. Diversity and inclusion conversations and interventions — almost always focused on numbers, compliance, and representation — will instead zero in on the policies, people practices, and workflow that enable real equity in a newsroom.
This will mean, for example, conceptualizing equity as something not separate from paid parental leave policies and the health benefits offered to employees. This is the year we see DEI resources invested in legal and IT to protect and support reporters targeted by online violence and abuse, which disproportionately impacts women and women of color. An equitable structure demands honesty and transparency and calls out racism and oppression, both overt and systemic, and builds power and momentum towards achieving goals while encouraging the grace and humility to sustain the endeavor. (Shout out to PolicyLink for the inspiration for Resolve Philly’s definition of an equitable structure.) 2021 will force newsroom leaders to address how they are — or aren’t — meeting these demands.
There is a tectonic shift happening in which people are speaking their truths and media companies are called to task to answer. There really is no other option here. We cannot truly consider ourselves stewards of public trust and information if we aren’t embodying equity at every level. In 2021, journalism will get its shit together. For the sake of democracy. For the sake of our economic future as an industry. For the sake of the communities we serve. For the sake of the people we employ.
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes are the co-executive directors of Resolve Philly.
Ariel Zirulnick Local newsrooms question their paywalls
Talmon Joseph Smith The media rejects deficit hawkery
Nicholas Jackson Blogging is back, but better
Errin Haines Let’s normalize women’s leadership
Heidi Tworek A year of news mocktails
Beena Raghavendran Journalism gets fused with art
Ståle Grut Network analysis enters the journalism toolbox
Natalie Meade Journalism enters rehab
Taylor Lorenz Journalists will learn influencing isn’t easy
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Stop pretending publishers are a united front
Chicas Poderosas More voices mean better information
Joanne McNeil Newsrooms push back against Ivy League cronyism
Mike Ananny Toward better tech journalism
Patrick Butler Covid-19 reporting has prepared us for cross-border collaboration
Marissa Evans Putting community trauma into context
Stefanie Murray and Anthony Advincula Expect to see more translations and non-English content
Steve Henn Has independent podcasting peaked?
Zizi Papacharissi The year we rebuild the infrastructure of truth
Jennifer Choi What have we done for you lately?
Samantha Ragland The year of journalists taking initiative
Sara M. Watson Return of the RSS reader
Andrew Donohue The rise of the democracy beat
Sarah Stonbely Videoconferencing brings more geographic diversity
Nisha Chittal The year we stop pivoting
Juleyka Lantigua The download, podcasting’s metric king, gets dethroned
A.J. Bauer The year of MAGAcal thinking
Brandy Zadrozny Misinformation fatigue sets in
Candis Callison Calling it a crisis isn’t enough (if it ever was)
Renée Kaplan Falling in love with your subscription
Tim Carmody Spotify will make big waves in video
Nico Gendron Ask your readers to help build your products
Burt Herman Journalists build post-Facebook digital communities
Jonas Kaiser Toward a wehrhafte journalism
Linda Solomon Wood Canada steps up for journalism
David Skok A pandemic-prompted wave of consolidation
Cory Bergman The year after a thousand earthquakes
Jesse Holcomb Genre erosion in nonprofit journalism
Nonny de la Pena News reaches the third dimension
Masuma Ahuja We’ll remember how interconnected our world is
Robert Hernandez Data and shame
Amara Aguilar Journalism schools emphasize listening
María Sánchez Díez Traffic will plummet — and it’ll be ok
Aaron Foley Diversity gains haven’t shown up in local news
Shaydanay Urbani and Nancy Watzman Local collaboration is key to slowing misinformation
Nik Usher Don’t expect an antitrust dividend for the media
Alicia Bell and Simon Galperin Media reparations now
Michael W. Wagner Fractured democracy, fractured journalism
Mark S. Luckie Newsrooms and streaming services get cozy
Jacqué Palmer The rise of the plain-text email newsletter
Imaeyen Ibanga Journalism gets unmasked
Marie Shanahan Journalism schools stop perpetuating the status quo
Tamar Charney Public radio has a midlife crisis
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists will be kinder to each other — and to themselves
Ben Werdmuller The web blooms again
Sarah Marshall The year audiences need extra cheer
Hossein Derakhshan Mass personalization of truth
J. Siguru Wahutu Journalists still wrongly think the U.S. is different
Kerri Hoffman Protecting podcasting’s open ecosystem
Gonzalo del Peon Collaborations expand from newsrooms to the business side
Rachel Schallom The rise of nonprofit journalism continues
Gabe Schneider Another year of empty promises on diversity
José Zamora Walking the talk on diversity
Alyssa Zeisler Holistic medicine for journalism
Celeste Headlee The rise of radical newsroom transparency
Joni Deutsch Local arts and music make journalism more joyous
Marcus Mabry News orgs adapt to a post-Trump world (with Trump still in it)
Tonya Mosley True equity means ownership
Loretta Chao Open up the profession
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes A shift from conversation to action
Mandy Jenkins You build trust by helping your readers
AX Mina 2020 isn’t a black swan — it’s a yellow canary
Sam Ford We’ll find better ways to archive our work
Raney Aronson-Rath To get past information divides, we need to understand them first
Andrew Ramsammy Stop being polite and start getting real
John Ketchum More journalists of color become newsroom founders
Eric Nuzum Podcasting dodged a bullet in 2020, but 2021 will be harder
Sue Cross A global consensus around the kind of news we need to save
Alfred Hermida and Oscar Westlund The virus ups data journalism’s game
Anna Nirmala Local news orgs grasp the urgency of community roots
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, a push for pluralism
Danielle C. Belton A decimated media rededicates itself to truth
Megan McCarthy Readers embrace a low-information diet
Anthony Nadler Journalism struggles to find a new model of legitimacy
Francesco Zaffarano The year we ask the audience what it needs
Rodney Gibbs Zooming beyond talking heads
Richard Tofel Less on politics, more on how government works (or doesn’t)
Christoph Mergerson Black Americans will demand more from journalism
Jim Friedlich A newspaper renaissance reached by stopping the presses
Cindy Royal J-school grads maintain their optimism and adaptability
Mariano Blejman It’s time to challenge autocompleted journalism
Doris Truong Indigenous issues get long-overdue mainstream coverage
M. Scott Havens Traditional pay TV will embrace the disruption
Chase Davis The year we look beyond The Story
Garance Franke-Ruta Rebundling content, rebuilding connections
Parker Molloy The press will risk elevating a Shadow President Trump
Jennifer Brandel A sneak peak at power mapping, 2073’s top innovation
Catalina Albeanu Publish less, listen more
Pablo Boczkowski Audiences have revolted. Will newsrooms adapt?
Rick Berke Virtual events are here to stay
Jeremy Gilbert Human-centered journalism
Kate Myers My son will join every Zoom call in our industry
Whitney Phillips Facts are an insufficient response to falsehoods
Ben Collins We need to learn how to talk to (and about) accidental conspiracists
Julia B. Chan and Kim Bui Millennials are ready to run things
Jessica Clark News becomes plural
Bill Adair The future of fact-checking is all about structured data
David Chavern Local video finally gets momentum
Ray Soto The news gets spatial
Meredith D. Clark The year journalism starts paying reparations
Matt DeRienzo Citizen truth brigades steer us back toward reality
Annie Rudd Newsrooms grow less comfortable with the “view from above”
Rishad Patel From direct-to-consumer to direct-to-believers
Zainab Khan From understanding to feeling
Colleen Shalby The definition of good journalism shifts
Ryan Kellett The bundle gets bundled
Benjamin Toff Beltway reporting gets normal again, for better and for worse
Laura E. Davis The focus turns to newsroom leaders for lasting change
Astead W. Herndon The Trump-sized window of the media caring about race closes again
Bo Hee Kim Newsrooms create an intentional and collaborative culture
Hadjar Benmiloud Get representative, or die trying
Tauhid Chappell and Mike Rispoli Defund the crime beat
Ernie Smith Entrepreneurship on rails
Kevin D. Grant Parachute journalism goes away for good
Logan Jaffe History as a reporting tool
Jer Thorp Fewer pixels, more cardboard
Janet Haven and Sam Hinds Is this an AI newsroom?
Don Day Business first, journalism second
Jody Brannon People won’t renew
Edward Roussel Tech companies get aggressive in local
C.W. Anderson Journalism changed under Trump — will it keep changing under Biden?
John Garrett A surprisingly good year
Ariane Bernard Going solo is still only a path for the few
Joshua P. Darr Legislatures will tackle the local news crisis
Gordon Crovitz Common law will finally apply to the Internet
Francesca Tripodi Don’t expect breaking up Google and Facebook to solve our information woes
Sumi Aggarwal News literacy programs aren’t child’s play
Kawandeep Virdee Goodbye, doomscroll
Cherian George Enter the lamb warriors
Sonali Prasad Making disaster journalism that cuts through the noise
Mike Caulfield 2021’s misinformation will look a lot like 2020’s (and 2019’s, and…)
Mark Stenberg The rise of the journalist-influencer
Nabiha Syed Newsrooms quit their toxic relationships
Delia Cai Subscriptions start working for the middle
Ashton Lattimore Remote work helps level the playing field in an insular industry
Charo Henríquez A new path to leadership
Matt Skibinski Misinformation won’t stop unless we stop it
Pia Frey Building growth through tastemakers and their communities
Brian Moritz The year sports journalism changes for good
Kristen Muller Engaged journalism scales
John Davidow Reflect and repent
John Saroff Covid sparks the growth of independent local news sites
Victor Pickard The commercial era for local journalism is over
Tanya Cordrey Declining trust forces publishers to claim (or disclaim) values