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Elizabeth Montgomery was facing a tough decision. Though she’d wanted to be a journalist her entire life, the treatment she was experiencing at The Arizona Republic and across the industry was quickly ruining this lifelong dream. At the Republic, she faced severe systemic racism and pay disparity, forcing her to choose between paying rent and buying groceries.
And she’s not alone.
According to recent research, Black journalists around the nation are struggling financially, with many taking second or third jobs, experiencing housing challenges, or being pushed out of the industry altogether. The latest round of layoffs at The Los Angeles Times had a disproportionate impact on journalists of color.
Montgomery’s departure from the newsroom, highlighted in Media 2070’s award-winning film Black in the Newsroom, is a wake-up call that captures the harsh realities Black face. While this may seem like a new problem — a betrayal of the promises newsrooms made during the Black Lives Matter era — it can be traced back much, much further.
“Newsrooms felt the economic impact [of the recession] in 2008, and it led to cost-cutting measures, often affecting newer hires. Before 2008, dedicated efforts were being made to enhance diversity, but it’s not surprising that most of those let go were people of color,” said Wanda Smalls Lloyd, a lifelong editor who once called USA Today and The Washington Post home. Lloyd has spent her entire life advocating for fairer newsroom policies and news coverage and mentoring young Black journalists.
She explained that newsrooms have known for decades that the lack of newsroom diversity is a problem for decades. Fledgling attempts to rectify the problem often mean that new hires are the first people cut when newsrooms face funding issues. “Journalism programs were also decimated and so many of them have not come back,” Lloyd said.
Media 2070’s landmark essay, which traces America’s history of anti-Black harm in the media system, highlights the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s mistreatment of Black journalists Alexis Johnson and Michael Santiago as a stark example of ongoing challenges that Black journalists face. Johnson posted a tweet that critiqued mainstream media’s coverage of the George Floyd protests — which led to the paper removing her from covering the protests. Santiago faced a similar fate for supporting her.
The numbers unveil a startling truth
In fact, over the last 15 years, this exodus of Black journalists has intensified and speaks to the larger issue of how the news erases Black voices and perspectives. Since 1997, there’s been a 40-percent drop in the number of Black journalists working at daily newspapers.
A 2022 report released by the Washington Post Newspaper Guild reveals that The Post is struggling to retain Black employees. In 2020, more than one in three Guild-eligible journalists who left the newsroom were Black, despite Black journalists making up just 9.2 percent of newsroom employees that year.
A companion report by the Guild’s Black Caucus underscores the problematic work experiences Black journalists encounter. According to interviews with more than 30 current and former Post employees, Black journalists are frequently underpaid, devalued for their work, face limited career growth, and encounter indifference or hostility when they push for better coverage of communities of color and greater newsroom diversity.
Where are all the leadership roles for Black journalists?
Another major factor driving the departure of Black journalists from the industry is the enduring absence of representation and true power in leadership roles. Within this void, it’s difficult for Black reporters to influence what stories get told and how.
A 2018 survey by the American Society of News Editors found that only 7.19 percent of full-time newsroom employees were Black, compared to 78.18 percent white. Furthermore, only about one-fifth of those Black employees held leadership positions. This dynamic contributes to Black journalists feeling overlooked and disempowered, particularly when it comes to reporting on the specific needs and experiences of Black communities.
A 2023 Pew Research Center survey exposes troubling perceptions among Black Americans regarding news coverage. Nearly 63 percent feel news about Black people is overly negative compared to coverage of other racial groups, while 57 percent believe it selectively highlights only certain aspects of Black communities. These harmful portrayals perpetuate the myth of Black inferiority and pose challenges for Black journalists striving to provide comprehensive and authentic narratives of Black lives and communities.
Another revelation is that 54 percent of Black Americans advocate for more Black sources, 53 percent support increased Black leadership in newsrooms, and 44 percent endorse hiring more Black journalists. The lack of Black journalists in leadership positions results in coverage that oversimplifies Black stories and undermines the wholeness of the Black experience.
“It’s definitely stressful being a journalist at this time when journalism is demonized, and you add the fact that you’re a Black journalist, so you have people questioning your ability,” said Deon Osborne, managing editor at The Black Wall Street Times. “You have people questioning your facts and credibility.”
As Osborne reflects: “Whether it’s journalism, PR or any other field, as Black professionals, we already come in with imposter syndrome. Or when you have officials who say I’m not taking responses from you because you’re not a real journalist, it takes a mental toll. In the sense for me, at least, I wonder, ‘Am I actually worthy or capable of this work?’”
The industry needs a seismic shift to eradicate the laundry list of barriers Black reporters encounter that leave them exhausted, underpaid, and overworked. The 1993 report “Muted Voices: Frustration and Fear in the Newsroom,” led by Wanda Smalls Lloyd and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), exposed the mistreatment of Black journalists that still exists today. According to the survey of NABJ members, 60 percent of Black reporters said they weren’t “equally informed” of career opportunities.
The report documents another heartbreaking reality: Almost 60 percent of Black journalists believed they needed to meet higher standards than their non-Black colleagues, contributing to increased rates of burnout. It’s no wonder newsrooms can’t retain Black staff: Organizations refuse to support, nurture and value their expertise.
The steep drop in Black voices within newsrooms, mirrored by alarming data and personal accounts, calls for immediate reforms. Journalists are the truth tellers in our democracy, and media companies have a responsibility to invest in them.
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Black journalists need our support now more than ever
Media 2070, a project that champions reparative policies rooted in Black liberation, calls on newsrooms to adopt policies that ensure fair pay and mental health support for Black journalists. “Black journalists are treated as pawns of the corporate media industry rather than real change agents who have the responsibility to be truth-tellers and justice seekers.,” said Media 2070 Campaign Manager Venneikia Williams. “Their voices, perspectives, and stories are not expendable pieces to be sacrificed, but rather essential elements that help realize true justice for marginalized and oppressed communities.”
Globally, we are seeing in real-time how journalists are being targeted for speaking truth to power and shedding light on the realities of our world. Black journalists in the United States must be committed to telling the truth about our plights and victories, but the obstacles to them doing this work must be destroyed. This can only come about with a true shift in power structures and values. We must create something new while reducing the harm that newsrooms cause.
“I got so much praise from the community, but my job [the Republic] was like, ‘You’re not a good writer,’” said former Republic reporter Elizabeth Montgomery. “They almost wrote me up because they said I wasn’t a good writer. In every meeting, it was gonna be a situation where we talked about me in a negative way. It was just … terrible, and it was belittling.”
Venneikia Williams is the Media 2070 campaign manager. Tianna Mañón is the CEO of Mañón Media, where Nyasia Almestica is a publicist.