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Collage of images. Top left: Photo of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, a state prison in California, with a yellow filter. Top right: Two screenshots of the text of prison media access bills, AB 1440 and SB 239. The bottom half of the collage features cutouts of profiles of California governors Arnold Schwarznegger, Gavin Newsom, and Jerry Brown. All are white men wearing suits and speaking a podium. There is an article screenshot over each cut-out. The one above Schwarznegger says Governor vetoes prison access bill (October 1, 2004). The one above Newsom says California governor vetoes bill expanding media access to prisons: Governor Newsom expressed concerns over allowing the press unfettered access to inmates, which he said could turn criminals into social media stars. The cutout above Brown says Brown rejects expanding media access to prisons (Oct. 1, 2012 2:26 p.m. PT)

Governor Newsom adds to California’s legacy of stifling prison media access

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August 25, 2026
Governor Gavin Newsom is the latest California governor to consistently veto bills seeking to expand media access and press freedom in prisons, following a precedent set by prior state governors.

The Objective is a nonprofit newsroom examining systems of power and inequity in journalism: how newsrooms treat their employees, how journalists interact with their community, and what new forms of journalism can look like.

Collage of photos with two halves and a paper filter layered over. A red map of the U.S. is at the top left of the photo and an audience of Asian journalists of varying ethnicities and genders is at the bottom right corner. A blown-up photo of Donald Trump with a half-tone screen effect edited atop is located at the center of the photo.
U.S. investment in international reporting is shrinking, taking international journalists’ opportunities with it
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August 19, 2026
A statement signed by unionized journalists across USA Today Co. papers and published by the NewsGuild-CWA reads: "We have significant ethical issues with Palantir, whose artificial intelligence (A.I.) software has been used to advance widespread surveillance and power immigration crackdowns." The photo of the statement is layered atop a photo of five Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers, focused on the backs of their vests, walking through a factory.
Hundreds of journalists demand USA Today Co. end Palantir partnership
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August 13, 2026

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A collage of items. An Axios headline from March 7, 2026 that reads Majority of major U.S. newsrooms require at least 3 days in office is overlaid over an orange KN95 and image of an air purifier stylized with a halftone effect. Those images are above a photo of an open laptop and notebook.
Despite COVID-19, disabled reporters say disability is still inconsistently prioritized in news
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August 12, 2026
HBCU professors adapt curriculum to guide aspiring Black journalists amid attacks on DEI
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July 23, 2026
Two photos. On left: A photo of Sarah J. Jackson, a light-skinned Black woman with shoulder-length natural hair and a button-up, looking at the camera with a slight smile. On right: A photo of the cover of A Second Sight: How the Wonder and Vision of Black Mediamakers Push America Toward Freedom, which features an eyeball vector on a black background and a star with red, white, and blue as the highlight in the pupil.
Q&A: ‘A Second Sight’ tells U.S. media history through Black journalists’ lens
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June 16, 2026
A ripped sheet of paper is overlaid across a Black person shaking a white person's hand, with the Black person's arm obscured to represent being shut out of opportunities. The handshake is surrounded by a headline from a 2024 release from Women in Journalism that says United States: Journalists of Color Disproportionately Affected by Major Media Layoffs and a 2025 headline from The Guardian that says 'It's not a coincidence': journalists of color on being laid off amid Trump's anti-DEI push.
Journalism is increasingly pushing reporters of color out of the industry
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June 4, 2026
A collage of several elements, including a screenshot from a Q&A with Christopher Blackwell, with the sentence "We have journalists on the ground in every place in the world, except prisons"; a screenshotted excerpt of the front page of The Prison News, a North Carolina prison paper; collected author photos for John J. Lennon, Phillip Vance Smith II, Blackwell, and Kwaneta Harris; the headline for the Bridging the Gap conference program, courtesy of Haymarket Books.
Incarcerated journalists lead first-ever conference on strengthening U.S. prison journalism
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May 28, 2026
An image of Joy Reid, a Black woman wearing a leather blazer, white T-shirt and jeans with a pixie cut, gesturing toward the audience overlaid with "Start your Substack" icons. The icon in the top left has a mouse cursor above it.
‘Pick your hard’: Black independent journalism isn’t as simple as Substack
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May 7, 2026

What is The Objective?

Despite holding themselves up as “objective” and “impartial” for generations, mainstream American newsrooms have almost always been defined by homogenous teams that fail to account for race, gender, class, disability, and sexuality.

We founded The Objective in June of 2020 as a volunteer collective of journalists concerned with systems of inequity in newsrooms. Our small non-profit newsroom relies on donations to hold journalism institutions accountable and advocate for journalism that’s understanding of power dynamics and the intersections of identity.

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Objective co-directors win the 2026 AAJA Award for Leadership in Diversity & Solidarity
July 9, 2026
Graphic recording of The Objective’s Trans Media Convening panel, Narrative Change in Journalism. Top left section, below heading that says Narrative Change in Journalism: A swiss army knife that says “narrative change.” Many stories combine to form narratives that shape meaning and our realities. Multiple infrastructures work to shift narratives: Organizing, art, documentary. Journalism shapes reality by: telling us what’s happening, starting and expanding conversations (thought bubble that says “What even is gender?”), showing us what’s possible, presenting evidence in context, offering institutional guidance, and showing our power. Top right section: Journalism’s histories: A set of practices & traditions that upholds the status quo & ignores the margins. Omit: Stories about Black folks and everyone on the margins. A news station has a flag that says “myth of objectivity.” Another tradition shines a spotlight on the margins & refuses to look away! A la Ida B. Wells. A portrait of Ida B. Wells is shown. Bottom left section: Where has this brought us? 3 main approaches to coverage: 3D glasses with one pink lens and one blue lens. Cis lens is default and dominant: Nature documentary (behold the wild trans person), clinical (puzzle, not people), and scandalized (e.g. Jerry Springer, Ace Ventura, JK Rowling) & newsrooms (like CBS) are firing trans reporters. Below right section: What is our assignment? Pressure newsrooms, equip individual reporters to fight ‘em, humanize the story, multi-tactical, non-binary — work all the precious points & follow the data. Scoop the newsroom, tell a better story, work with & for each other, be our best resource. Build our own places. “Throw sand in the gears of genocide.” -Rasha Abdulhadi. Keep fighting!
Strategizing about a safer media ecosystem for trans people: The Objective’s first Trans Media Convening
April 13, 2026