Almost 10 years ago, I got the perfect assignment. An artist in St. Louis was embarking on a project where he’d be painting one piece a day depicting positive images of Black fatherhood. It was called “365 Days with Dad,” and regularly, I’d find one of artist Cbabi Bayoc’s subjects and tell the story behind that painting. 

I got to tell the story of the blue dress Jennifer Finley wore when she was just 3 to her father’s funeral, about the people not pictured but still present in a painting of a father and son in prayer, and the place where the painting of a father and son lost in reading would be displayed. 

And once my reporting was done, I bought a painting for my husband. We are the guardians of Day 45. 

Journalism and art are certainly different, but that project captured something journalists have to do better. We have to document the nuance of people’s lives and be present for the good stuff. And we have to do that year-round.

There are other examples of art showing what’s possible with journalism, too, including Tonika Johnson’s “Folded Map” project, which introduced “block twins” to each other from different sides of Chicago. 

The Boston Globe’s “A Beautiful Resistance” from Jeneé Osterheldt perfectly captures what so much local news coverage is missing. It leads with this: 

“We are more than police brutality and suffering. We can acknowledge injustice without being defined that way. Blackness is not a burden. Here, we tell our stories and our struggles, too, through the lens of love. We amplify the truths of Black folk and other people of color living as their fullest selves in a region, in a country, set up to keep them from doing just that. Their joy is a form of resistance.”

Yes, resources are fewer. Yes, newsrooms are smaller. But our jobs, and the work of reflecting a community, has not shrunk. Newsrooms have to hire and promote people of color. And listen to them. And trust them. And reporters, whatever the medium, have to build meaningful connections throughout the communities they cover. 

Here are a few resources for that:

• Read everything from my RJI fellow fellow Melba Newsome on finding diverse sources and measuring inclusivity. She recommends: 
  • Find POC Experts
  • Diverse Sources
  • Help a Reporter Out
  • And this database of tribal colleges and universities.
     
• Spotlight PA has a diverse source database for Pennsylvania, and they’re willing to help other newsrooms build one, too.
   
• Asian American Journalists Association built AAJA Studio with Asian American and Pacific Islander community leaders and subject matter experts. 
   
• The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has a Cultural Competence Handbook.
   
• The Association of LGBTQ Journalists has a stylebook. 
   
• And the Native American Journalists Association has several reporting guides.

While you’re here:

• I love Open News’ Exit Interviews series, talking to journalists about why they left the industry.

• Local Media Association has launched Amplify Ohio, a collaborative with three partners that will “will publish stories focused on health disparities that impact Black and LGBTQ communities.”

• The Coalition for Women in Journalism has published its latest report, “Press Freedom Status for Women Journalists.”

• NPR has launched a new investigative unit to work with regional stations. 

• Apply for Columbia University’s Energy Journalism Initiative. 

• Nominate your best audience work for the John P. Murray Award for Excellence in Audience Development.

• Check out First Draft’s Vaccine Insights Hub.

• The AP has found more journalists helping people sign up for COVID-19 vaccines. 

• Read Better News on how “How The Journal News reinvented its coverage of Yonkers, N.Y., rebuilt trust and grew subscriptions.”

• “Pandemic Fine” is the term we need right now. Here’s how to ask for help in your newsroom.

• Before you go start your own newsroom, read LION on figuring out nonprofit vs. for-profit.  

• Last week, GLAAD featured some of the newsrooms that highlighted trans voices while reporting on President Joe Biden’s new policy.

• Heather Bryant wrote another really powerful piece, this time about pay and management.

• Gather pulled together a list of all the 2021 journalism conferences. 

• Apply for the Dan Rather Medal for News and Guts, honoring both pros and students.

• And finally, because the world keeps coming full circle, check out my latest obit newsletter for the Tampa Bay Times, where I went in search of the person who wrote a great obit and found … a local journalist.