Poynter on how Feministing works to move beyond token diversity

Poynter – an Institute and publication that promotes exellence in journalism – published an article today about the work we do here at Feministing to promote a diversity of young feminist voices in the media.

Co-Executive Directors Maya Dusenbery, Jos Truitt, & Lori AdelmanCo-Executive Directors Lori Adelman, Maya Dusenbery, and myself talked with Lauren Klinger about running a publication that uplifts voices that have traditionally been marginalized within feminism – and media more generally – into the mainstream. We talked about building a genuinely diverse team that models active solidarity both publicly and in our behind the scenes work, and about the sorts of support we believe are an essential part of doing this job right.

Here’s a small snippet of the article:

Feministing’s executive director for partnerships, Lori Adelman, told me she believes it’s a mistake for news organizations to think of diversity as inclusion.

“People of color, queer people, trans people, refugees, immigrants: our stories are the news,” she said. “We don’t owe mainstream media anything for telling our stories. They owe it to themselves to get the world right and figure out a way to dig more than skin deep when it comes to identity and journalism.”

To be intentional about diversity is not about tokenism, it’s about enlarging the universe of experiences that writers bring to the newsroom.

Head over to Poynter to read the whole article. 

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Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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