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So many times when I tried to cover racial resentment or white nationalism my editors — and yes, I’ll name @NateSilver538 here — acted like they were protecting the truth from me. Instead they prevented Americans from learning the truth.
This has had costs. To all of us. I’m naming Nate here because we had a follow up call and he took no responsibility for his actions or patronizing attitude. I hope he’s treating his current staff and the news itself better.
I have mixed feelings about naming names. Black women are often painted as Bitter Bettys when we do. Instead we are Black Cassandras, foretelling what lies ahead but not being believed.
Believe Black Women. Believe Black Women Journalists. Telling the truth requires the frisson of multiple perspectives in major media newsrooms. When we are frozen out, the entire enterprise goes off the rails.
We’d never be here today — I truly believe this — if Black and POC reporters and editors had the authority and roles needed to shape the coverage of 2016.
Let’s not forget that Les Moonves of CBS said twice on earnings calls that Trump was bad for America and good for CBS. I don’t know one Black female CEO who would say that, or could keep her job if it was leaked.
This is not an effing drill. We will be in a proxy civil war for years, I think. With domestic terrorism driven by white nationalism, and casualties of what’s being called “conspirituality” — the messianic devotion to conspiracies.
Who among us who covered 2016 and are still in journalism are willing to reflect, take responsibility, and do better? Because we really need better right now.
Thank you all. Adding this thought: who is following the money in media? Nate Silver and the men who founded Vice, etc were showered in $$$ while Black women/WOC with long track records are treated like charity cases when raising funds. This hurts media & democracy.
@NateSilver538’s black box models on polling never took Black women and WOC into account because the original polling itself never tracked Black/WOC well. Obviously in states from AZ to GA this is a fatal flaw in data analysis.
Seeing this gap, the @OurBodyPolitic team is using our radio/podcast platform to build out an insights company. Our goal is to accurately document the voice of Black women and WOC in politics. It’s no longer acceptable to say it’s a design flaw. Let’s fix it.
Two pointers: 1) my Nieman Reports conversation on cultural competency in media. We won’t survive this era without it. https://niemanreports.org/articles/cultural-competency-and-why-it-is-important-to-covering-todays-america/
2) my update on The Call-to-Whiteness, my 2016 essay produced from the pain and frustration of not being able to mention white nationalism at FiveThirtyEight, with more details on what happened in that newsroom and in America. https://faraic.medium.com/the-call-to-whiteness-9a27b5a0b347
To all of us reclaiming the truth from the bonfire of “alternative facts”/conspirituality... and from smug journalists and data jocks who couldn’t co-create multicultural newsrooms when we needed it most.
And please read not only this tweet, but the entire thread. Thank you Milo. https://twitter.com/milobela/status/1348429593116598272
