After the George Floyd protests in May 2020, Black journalists in the United States started a revolt of their own. What began with industry outcry over the on-camera arrest of a Black CNN reporter in Minneapolis (while his white colleague also worked nearby, untouched) escalated on Twitter to Black and other journalists of color exposing workplace frustrations over racism, representation and “objectivity” that affect how U.S. newsrooms cover the police killings of unarmed Black men and women. Top editors stepped down. Journalists resigned. Advertisers balked. Some outlets promised change—and still the airing of dirty laundry continues apace on Twitter.
This is unprecedented, says long-time social justice journalist Carla Murphy. To help understand the roots and ramifications of this public revolt, she has curated a reading list about how this latest reckoning on race is disrupting the nation’s newsrooms.
Carla Murphy
Carla Murphy is an essayist and editor whose tenure as a reporter informs her current interest in journalism reform. She edits Lewis Raven Wallace’s The View from Somewhere podcast, and is a 2020-2021 visiting fellow in Boston College’s journalism program and VP and member of the board of the Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS). Follow her on Twitter @carlamurphy.