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