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.
Joanne McNeil Newsrooms push back against Ivy League cronyism
Rishad Patel From direct-to-consumer to direct-to-believers
Loretta Chao Open up the profession
Gabe Schneider Another year of empty promises on diversity
Cindy Royal J-school grads maintain their optimism and adaptability
Matt Skibinski Misinformation won’t stop unless we stop it
Masuma Ahuja We’ll remember how interconnected our world is
Mandy Jenkins You build trust by helping your readers
Ariane Bernard Going solo is still only a path for the few
Anna Nirmala Local news orgs grasp the urgency of community roots
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Victor Pickard The commercial era for local journalism is over
Don Day Business first, journalism second
Jesse Holcomb Genre erosion in nonprofit journalism
Colleen Shalby The definition of good journalism shifts
An Xiao Mina 2020 isn’t a black swan — it’s a yellow canary
Sue Cross A global consensus around the kind of news we need to save
Eric Nuzum Podcasting dodged a bullet in 2020, but 2021 will be harder
Mark S. Luckie Newsrooms and streaming services get cozy
Brandy Zadrozny Misinformation fatigue sets in
M. Scott Havens Traditional pay TV will embrace the disruption
Benjamin Toff Beltway reporting gets normal again, for better and for worse
John Saroff Covid sparks the growth of independent local news sites
Andrew Donohue The rise of the democracy beat
Samantha Ragland The year of journalists taking initiative
Astead W. Herndon The Trump-sized window of the media caring about race closes again
Natalie Meade Journalism enters rehab
Matt DeRienzo Citizen truth brigades steer us back toward reality
Shaydanay Urbani and Nancy Watzman Local collaboration is key to slowing misinformation
Laura E. Davis The focus turns to newsroom leaders for lasting change
Doris Truong Indigenous issues get long-overdue mainstream coverage
Gordon Crovitz Common law will finally apply to the Internet
Parker Molloy The press will risk elevating a Shadow President Trump
Mike Ananny Toward better tech journalism
J. Siguru Wahutu Journalists still wrongly think the U.S. is different
Kristen Muller Engaged journalism scales
Jody Brannon People won’t renew
Ben Werdmuller The web blooms again
Cory Bergman The year after a thousand earthquakes
John Ketchum More journalists of color become newsroom founders
Rick Berke Virtual events are here to stay
Sam Ford We’ll find better ways to archive our work
Sara M. Watson Return of the RSS reader
Meredith D. Clark The year journalism starts paying reparations
Rodney Gibbs Zooming beyond talking heads
Delia Cai Subscriptions start working for the middle
Linda Solomon Wood Canada steps up for journalism
Talmon Joseph Smith The media rejects deficit hawkery
Aaron Foley Diversity gains haven’t shown up in local news
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Stop pretending publishers are a united front
Tauhid Chappell and Mike Rispoli Defund the crime beat
Kevin D. Grant Parachute journalism goes away for good
Jeremy Gilbert Human-centered journalism
Jennifer Brandel A sneak peak at power mapping, 2073’s top innovation
Steve Henn Has independent podcasting peaked?
Mark Stenberg The rise of the journalist-influencer
Ariel Zirulnick Local newsrooms question their paywalls
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, a push for pluralism
Juleyka Lantigua The download, podcasting’s metric king, gets dethroned
Sarah Stonbely Videoconferencing brings more geographic diversity
Stefanie Murray and Anthony Advincula Expect to see more translations and non-English content
Tanya Cordrey Declining trust forces publishers to claim (or disclaim) values
Heidi Tworek A year of news mocktails
Kawandeep Virdee Goodbye, doomscroll
Raney Aronson-Rath To get past information divides, we need to understand them first
Kate Myers My son will join every Zoom call in our industry
Cherian George Enter the lamb warriors
Celeste Headlee The rise of radical newsroom transparency
Jim Friedlich A newspaper renaissance reached by stopping the presses
Janet Haven and Sam Hinds Is this an AI newsroom?
Jacqué Palmer The rise of the plain-text email newsletter
Nicholas Jackson Blogging is back, but better
Alyssa Zeisler Holistic medicine for journalism
Gonzalo del Peon Collaborations expand from newsrooms to the business side
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists will be kinder to each other — and to themselves
Marissa Evans Putting community trauma into context
Megan McCarthy Readers embrace a low-information diet
Christoph Mergerson Black Americans will demand more from journalism
Bo Hee Kim Newsrooms create an intentional and collaborative culture
Logan Jaffe History as a reporting tool
Beena Raghavendran Journalism gets fused with art
Francesca Tripodi Don’t expect breaking up Google and Facebook to solve our information woes
Marie Shanahan Journalism schools stop perpetuating the status quo
Richard Tofel Less on politics, more on how government works (or doesn’t)
Edward Roussel Tech companies get aggressive in local
C.W. Anderson Journalism changed under Trump — will it keep changing under Biden?
Andrew Ramsammy Stop being polite and start getting real
Amara Aguilar Journalism schools emphasize listening
Catalina Albeanu Publish less, listen more
Chase Davis The year we look beyond The Story
Michael W. Wagner Fractured democracy, fractured journalism
Kerri Hoffman Protecting podcasting’s open ecosystem
Jean Friedman-Rudovsky and Cassie Haynes A shift from conversation to action
Ben Collins We need to learn how to talk to (and about) accidental conspiracists
Nikki Usher Don’t expect an antitrust dividend for the media
Charo Henríquez A new path to leadership
A.J. Bauer The year of MAGAcal thinking
Joni Deutsch Local arts and music make journalism more joyous
Francesco Zaffarano The year we ask the audience what it needs
Candis Callison Calling it a crisis isn’t enough (if it ever was)
Imaeyen Ibanga Journalism gets unmasked
Anthony Nadler Journalism struggles to find a new model of legitimacy
Bill Adair The future of fact-checking is all about structured data
Whitney Phillips Facts are an insufficient response to falsehoods
Marcus Mabry News orgs adapt to a post-Trump world (with Trump still in it)
Annie Rudd Newsrooms grow less comfortable with the “view from above”
Tonya Mosley True equity means ownership
Zainab Khan From understanding to feeling
Garance Franke-Ruta Rebundling content, rebuilding connections
Alicia Bell and Simon Galperin Media reparations now
Sarah Marshall The year audiences need extra cheer
Sumi Aggarwal News literacy programs aren’t child’s play
Joshua P. Darr Legislatures will tackle the local news crisis
Rachel Schallom The rise of nonprofit journalism continues
David Chavern Local video finally gets momentum
Errin Haines Let’s normalize women’s leadership
Jer Thorp Fewer pixels, more cardboard
Taylor Lorenz Journalists will learn influencing isn’t easy
Julia Angwin Show your (computational) work
Mariano Blejman It’s time to challenge autocompleted journalism
Pablo Boczkowski Audiences have revolted. Will newsrooms adapt?
Pia Frey Building growth through tastemakers and their communities
Hossein Derakhshan Mass personalization of truth
Hadjar Benmiloud Get representative, or die trying
Danielle C. Belton A decimated media rededicates itself to truth
Nico Gendron Ask your readers to help build your products
Nisha Chittal The year we stop pivoting
Zizi Papacharissi The year we rebuild the infrastructure of truth
John Davidow Reflect and repent
Ernie Smith Entrepreneurship on rails
Nabiha Syed Newsrooms quit their toxic relationships
Brian Moritz The year sports journalism changes for good
Renée Kaplan Falling in love with your subscription
Chicas Poderosas More voices mean better information
Tim Carmody Spotify will make big waves in video
Tamar Charney Public radio has a midlife crisis
Patrick Butler Covid-19 reporting has prepared us for cross-border collaboration
David Skok A pandemic-prompted wave of consolidation
John Garrett A surprisingly good year
María Sánchez Díez Traffic will plummet — and it’ll be ok
Sonali Prasad Making disaster journalism that cuts through the noise
Ryan Kellett The bundle gets bundled
Ashton Lattimore Remote work helps level the playing field in an insular industry
Julia B. Chan and Kim Bui Millennials are ready to run things
Ståle Grut Network analysis enters the journalism toolbox
Jonas Kaiser Toward a wehrhafte journalism
Jessica Clark News becomes plural
Jennifer Choi What have we done for you lately?
Alfred Hermida and Oscar Westlund The virus ups data journalism’s game
José Zamora Walking the talk on diversity
Mike Caulfield 2021’s misinformation will look a lot like 2020’s (and 2019’s, and…)
Burt Herman Journalists build post-Facebook digital communities