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

After years of diversity promises and amid increased safety risks, journalists of color face an industry that still fails to culturally and financially value their labor.

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

Bridging the Gap, a conference focused on improving journalism in and on U.S. prisons and jails, will take place in Chicago on May 29 and 30.

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

While it might be simple to suggest that reporters launch a newsletter or an independent newsroom when laid off from corporate media, those career pivots cost more than just money — particularly for Black independent journalists.

Black-and-white photo of six journalists in a newsroom working together. A speech bubble has been added to one journalist, who says, "How can we improve journalism's most influential ethics code?" Another journalist is edited with a speech bubble overhead that reads, Ask Claude.
Should journalism have an industry-wide ethics policy for covering artificial intelligence? 

Tech journalists have set their own standards as journalism organizations haven’t yet issued consistent guidelines around generative artificial intelligence — whether around how it’s used in newsroom processes or how it’s covered.

A sign reading "Taken by injustice. Remembered for resistance." seen at the Alex Pretti Memorial on February 3, 2026.
Reporting on ICE killings follows a long history of normalizing state violence

Mainstream coverage of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Keith Porter’s killings shows how anti-Black news standards desensitize communities to state violence.

A set of three Self articles collaged together alongside a pink square, a dark blue square, and an orange circle. From top to bottom, the articles read: People Who Have Had COVID Face a Much Higher Risk of Chronic Fatigue, Study Says. Here's why the virus can lead to unrelenting exhaustion. By Korin Miller, Feb. 20, 2024. 'Pulse' Actor Jessy Yates on Connecting With Her Body and the Importance of Seeing Disabled People on Screen. "When we don't see disability in the media, how do we ever normalize an entire group of people?" By Amy Marturana Winderl, CPT. Apr. 29, 2025. 3 People with Chronic Illnesses Share How TikTok Has Changed Their Lives. "It wasn't until I started to see others posting about their experiences when it finally clicked that I'm not alone." By Katie Comero. Aug. 21, 2024.
Self Magazine shuttering means one less publication taking disability seriously

The almost 50-year-old publication was a lifeline for chronically ill readers.

People of varying ages and genders are drawn as icons connected by their information-sharing habits, from a teacher working with students to an elder sharing archives and people working on research presentations.
Journalists aren’t the only ones sharing the news, and that’s a good thing

A new framework from Journalism + Design Lab invites newsrooms to build on the abundance, diversity, and momentum already in our communities to strengthen local news.

An edited version of the One World Trade Center rendered in the colors of the trans flag and skewed off-kilter.
Equalpride lays off staff at Them after purchasing the publication from Condé Nast

National resources to cover queer and trans news are shrinking as the number of anti-trans bills being considered across the U.S. in 2026 outpaces last year.

A neon green raven facing right has the letters "Ravenous" cut out of its body. Its feet are splayed in a way that look like a fork and spoon.
Ravenous is the newest publication in a growing menu of food journalism co-ops

As corporate media instability and “pivot to video” shift the landscape of culture reporting, new worker-run food publications like Ravenous feed cravings for long-form writing.

An issue of Freedom's Journal overlaid with a torn edge of paper. At the right-hand corner of the issue is an image of stacked hundred dollar bills.
The Black press has always faced an inequitable funding landscape. Its future can’t be the same

Looking to historical models can provide some clarity and inspiration in an environment once again hostile to funding Black journalists and the Black press.