Barbara Raab and Farai Chideya of the Ford Foundation Noted As Women Who Shall Lead In The News Industry
Women will lead the news industry’s revolution. This will be a year of reckoning, the year a new wave of diverse news leaders shapes American journalism and insures that voices of the underrepresented, the marginalized, the assaulted, the citizens of the Midwest and Deep South are included in the news narratives of the day on politics, sexual assault, law enforcement, and economic justice.
Across the news industry, and the culture at large, leaders continue to be exposed and terminated for inappropriate sexual conduct. The tumult will contribute to a power shift in news leadership in 2018 and a redefined relationship with the audience. The departures open the door for a new wave of women news leaders to join editors like Michelle Holmes of al.com who develop stories about the political power of black women in Alabama even before they demand to be heard.
When sexual misconduct claims derailed Roger Ailes, few imagined the opening of the floodgates that would lead to a purge of journalists who had been household names for a generation. The upheaval in media has caused the industry to hold a mirror to itself like never before. The Mirror Awards sponsored by Syracuse University, an annual prize that recognizes journalism that shines a light on the news industry itself, have taken on newfound significance as organizations like NPR, PBS, NBC, CBS, and others call out and drive out the ill-behaved scourge on the industry. The purge has not happened in a vacuum. Frederick Douglass tells us “power concedes nothing without a demand.” The changes afoot are at the agitation of women and men who demand better from our colleagues. When the dust settles in 2018, more women news leaders will preside over newsrooms, assigned the messy task of getting their news houses in order...