From the editor
The controversy around Nikole Hannah-Jones’s faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ended in July with the architect of The 1619 Project declining UNC’s belated tenure offer and choosing instead to start the Center for Journalism and Democracy at Howard University.
For Amoretta Morris, president of Borealis Philanthropy, and Sara Lomax-Reese, president and CEO of WURD Radio in Philadelphia, the outcome was more than just the conclusion of an academic dispute. It was a step forward in “reimagining what journalism should and can become in order to speak to and reflect a true, thriving multiracial democracy.”
Morris and Lomax-Reese see Hannah-Jones’s initiative as part of a wider effort to build the capacity of BIPOC-serving news organizations. But, they write, as part of The Newsrooms We Need Now essay series, “in order to get there, it will take an expanded and significant investment in media makers of color.”
Two other essays in this series examine how newsrooms are grappling with issues of racial justice in the country — and in the journalism industry: David Ng, the new executive editor of The Providence Journal, writes about how his identity as the first-generation son of immigrant Chinese parents informs his journalism, and Kami Reick, social media editor at Bloomberg Opinion, argues that publishing salary ranges with every job posting can help address pay disparities and make newsrooms more diverse.
The Lessons from the Pandemic essay series continues, too, with Chicago Sun-Times’ obituary writer Maureen O’Donnell’s powerful advocacy for obituaries as a fundamental way of keeping people together during — and after — Covid. Look for more essays from this series later this summer and fall.
Sincerely,
James Geary
Editor, Nieman Reports
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