Below is an excerpt from The Collective, Poynter’s newsletter by journalists of color for journalists of color and our allies. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox two Wednesdays each month.
We usually reserve our mid-month edition of The Collective newsletter for subscribers, but these Q&A gems deserve a wider audience. So this edition is also available on Poynter.org.
Please enjoy these interviews with inspiring journalists of color who elevate BIPOC voices through Pulitzer-winning investigations, in an off-Broadway musical, through improv comedy and by shedding light on why BIPOC journalists stay (or sometimes are compelled to leave).
We kicked off our series of “How did they do that?” features this spring with Fernanda Santos, now editorial director at Futuro Media, who co-wrote the award-winning musical “¡Americano!” She called it the “most fun, creative process” she’s ever been a part of because “it’s the story of Dreamers.” She was originally a consultant for the project, letting only her inner critic keep her from being a playwright. “There is something really special about using the arts to convey messages that through journalism have not really moved people to change.”
Following up on her 2020 Leavers survey, Carla Murphy talked with The Collective about her Workers Project. She spoke with more than 100 JOCs about what newsrooms can do to attract and retain BIPOC talent: “The model 21st-century newsroom expects that race/identity shapes professional journalism values. (I hope that means that objectivity becomes more about method, less about personhood.)”
Dacia Mitchell, now chief of staff and diversity, equity and inclusion at Daily Kos, spoke candidly about why DEI initiatives often struggle: “You can have the Blackest newsroom in the world, but if your systems are still based on exclusion and still based in a framework of, you know, opacity, you’re not communicating effectively to your people, no one is empowered to make decisions, that newsroom’s gonna fall apart.”
JOCs are also leading change from outside the newsroom. University of Texas at Austin assistant professor Anita Varma focuses on the possibilities of solidarity journalism. Unlike solutions journalism, which “looks at what’s already working,” when it comes to solidarity work, “nothing may be working. So what hasn’t been tried, what would it look like for journalism to amplify those possibilities?”
Daniela Allee created her state’s first Spanish-language public radio news service: “¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire?” (“What’s new, New Hampshire?”). Her main takeaway for anyone else interested in a similar model is “if you don’t already have relationships in the community, take the time to build those. … Tell your editors how much time you need to make this work within the hours you’re getting paid for.”
We were inspired by Corey Johnson, who became the sixth Black journalist to win a Pulitzer for investigative reporting. He had an unconventional path to reporting and encourages “anybody that’s different than the norm to really, truly consider dreaming about being an investigative reporter and then putting down the effort and the work to build those skills up so they can do it. Because journalism needs it. It needs it badly.”
The final two Q&As we want to resurface feature Kansas City, Missouri, native Hartzell Gray and Connecticut native Sabrina Herrera. In addition to their full-time work as journalists, they might show up in unexpected places.
Hartzell seems to be everywhere — “I want to be able to do everything” — and is known as the unofficial voice of Kansas City, appearing on sports radio to podcasts to wrestling events. And Sabrina draws a clear line between her experiences on the improv comedy stage and being a journalist: “You hear ‘Yes, and …’ and that’s pretty common, people have heard that in TV shows and media. The principle behind that is that you’re adding and building. Like if you’re trying to work on a community engagement effort, and you’re trying to solve a problem, you try to figure out the next step and it’s not about blocking.”
Doris Truong is Poynter’s director of teaching and diversity strategies. She is the founding editor of The Collective newsletter.
The Collective is supported by the TEGNA Foundation.
