Props. Alexi mccammond and oliver darcy is coming up. Frommed video of george floyd dying to the video of these marches in big cities across the country, we are able to see it all these days. Also in small town america, dont sleep on whats happening in small town america. Protests in hundreds of cities. Buzzfeeds has been keeping a list of hundreds of these protests in towns and small cities, in many cases these are unprecedented. Reporters in these towns are saying theyve never seen anything like it. This weekend there were antiracism protestses from hickory, north carolina, to loveland, dole kol, from richmond, kentucky, to palmer, alaska, and so many places in define. Weve seen action in capitals around the world. Peaceful, powerful protests around the world. In the iphone age were able to see it all, including scenes like this, videos that can expose the use of Excessive Force by police, videos can also reveal criminal behavior by people in the streets, photos can shock the conscience. Videos can also complicate the narrative. Videos and photos can show unity. Photos can expose lies from people in power. Videos can show injustice wherever and whenever it happens. But even these images dont capture the full picture. For what its like for black reporters to see these images day in and day out and be covering these moments as theyre happening and be living this story. I dont think i can possibly ever fully understand how my africanamerican colleagues are feeling while facing a unique set of challenges, unique burdens, covering this story while living it. So, thats where i want to begin this hour. Theres been some headlines about this recently. Theres a cnn. Com headline saying many journalists of color are fed up and speaking out. Staffers calling out management at places like refinery 29d, buzzfeed, the New York Times and philly enquirer. The top editor resigned. There was an article published in the paper with the title buildings matter too which understandably caused an uproar from staffers at the inquirer. More than 40 journalists called out sick and tired, a protest earlier this week. This is bigger than any one moment, bigger than any one news room. Lets start a conversation about this. I want you to hear from the three guests i have standing by. Let me bring them in now beginning with jemele hill, Nicole Hannah jones of the New York Times and the founder of the 1619 project, the Pulitzer Prize winner, and karen attiah from the Washington Post running the Global Opinions project at the Washington Post. Thank you all for coming on the program today. Jemele, i hope you can set the table for us about the reality of news room diversity and for what its like for africanamerican reporters and writers to be covering but also living this story. Well, the reality is that newsroom adversity is still awful and that it has remained a consistent problem in our business. And so i think what youre seeing is that a lot of black journalists having to experience the trauma of what is happening generally to black people in this country are also having to deal with newsrooms who are inadequate when it comes to diversity and inclusion. How can you cover this moment when your own news room doesnt reflect the community or the country that you cover . So its a constant battle i think a lot of black journalists we face in news rooms, in different Media Outlets across the country is these problems have been systematically unaddressed. Its just a poor reflection of our business and also, frankly, a reflection of this nation. Karen, has progress been made in recent years . You know, i think a lot about how the Kerner Commission report after the Civil Rights Movement explicitly talked about this problem, about diversity in news rooms. Here we are in 2020 still addressing the same problem. There have been studies that said news rooms are actually less diverse overall than other workplaces in the United States. Personally, i really dont like the word diversity when it comes to all of this. Diversity is natural, its a given. We are still fighting for integration in our news rooms, to the communities we cover actually trust us and are heard. Were uniquely unprepared, i think, overall, to cover this moment. However, again, a shout out to the black journalists,ings a shout out to local news that are covering a lot of what is happening but on a broader level our industry should be ashamed at this moment actually. And the blackowned press, the press as well. Your point about integration is interesting. Nicole, is that a better word for us to be using . Yeah, i mean, a say all the time that i find diversity to be a useless term. Its a term that makes everyone feel good and also pretends the particulars of being a black american are the same thing as being, you know, any other type of marginalized group, and its not. I think what is really critical to understand is news rooms are, you know, our job is transparency and yet news rooms dont want to be transparent about their own diversity numbers, the American Society of newspaper editors has stopped doing its annual Diversity Survey because so few news rooms are willing to participate in it. We have news rooms that, you know, are attempting to explain racism and Racial Injustice to the largest society while being unable to actually deal with racism and Racial Injustice within their own institutions. And thats highly problematic. You know, looking at the coverage of the past week, i would love for all of you to assess the positives and negatives of the News Coverage of this current movement. You know, jemele, i noticed Sean Hannity Show was rerunning old video of riots and looting. I thought it was to misleading to the point hes lying to the audience, pretending thats happening currently. There was unrest, vandalism on sunday and monday night in new york city. Its not happening today. I wonder if well see riot porn, which is a problem because it mislead people about whats happening today, whats happening now. Well, i mean, consider the source when it comes to sean hannity. True. Unusual for what they do. Its like asking a zebra to change its stripes. Its not going to happen. I will say ive seen certainly a lot of things that have, i thought, put the unrest and rebellion, just using those words, i think, is a significant step. I saw those used a lot more in the media as opposed to maybe at previous times like after ferguson. I think there was a little bit of a shift compared to the coverage we saw after ferguson. Nevertheless, there were still awful moments. The headline at the fefl inquirer, buildings matter too. That gets back to what what weve been talking about when it comes to what your news room looks like and how thats to happen likely because you dont have adequate representation. Or if you do, maybe theyre not in a position to actually speak to why Something Like that is an awful reflection of what were seeing. Do you think the inquirer is also an example of people power because journalists in the news room spoke out and they were able to affect change . Yeah, i do. I mean, i think look, this is what we all got in the business to do, is that journalism is not a profession of being friends. Journalism is a profession of agitation. What were seeing from inside of these news room in pittsburgh, in philadelphia, in new york, that is what were charged to do, is hold everybody accountable, even the people who sign our checks. A job of agitation, that line is going to stick with me. Nikole, how would you size up the News Coverage from the past week . I think overall, ive been pleasantly surprised. There were certainly moments at the beginning of last week where there was a lot of focus on looting, ady proportionate focus. At one time i was on a Division Show trying to talk about the systematic and historic nature of the uprisings, and there was live footage my entire interview of someone looting a foot locker people looting a foot locker in philadelphia. I thought that was irresponsible. You have to show it but dont show it out of proportion with what is happening. I think really working to explain this moment to iminto this moment with history, to talk about kind of the Racial Injustice, the systematic longterm Racial Injustice that communities have experienced, i think the news has been much better than ive seen in the past. I think theres been much more of an effort to explain that to the american. You be. I think polling that shows 76 of americans, the highest that weve ever measured, believe that systematic racism is a major problem. Its reflective of our coverage. Karen, final word to you. Yeah, i agree with nikole, this is an historic moment were in and the entire world is watching us. I have friends and acquaintances who are cheering us on from around the world. And i think be right now, again, we journalists, were the first draft of history, so we have to keep that in mind be as were trying to navigate this moment and, you know, i just i just hope everyone in power is listening. Karen, thank you. Nikole, thank you. I want to show you the president s newest lie about these protests and also talk about all the news that is fit or not fit in print. The New York Times publishing an oped that has roiled staffers and readers alike. If you have moderate to severe psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can become your big moment. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. For psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. For the same medications as the vet, but up to 30 percent less with fast free shipping. Visit petmeds. Com today. Times say theyve never seen anything like this, the reaction, the internal rebellion to the oped entitled send in the troops, reacting to the vandalism and violence seen in u. S. Cities last weekend. There was massive backlash from staffers at the paper as well as some readers. There was a planned virtual walkout, some cancellations of subscriptions. You can see some reactions here. A number of times reporters and columnists tweeted out the dlum and said, whoa, running this puts black New York Times staffers in danger. That was a show of solidarity by staffers of the paper. There are times when columns and opeds in the New York Times cause controversy, thats sometimes the intent. What makes this difference, i think, is how widespread the reaction was inside the New York Times with more than 1,000 staffers talking about it in internal chat rooms and by what management then did as a result. Because at first the New York Times editor acknowledged the concerns but tepidly saying i believe in the principle of openness to a range of opinions, even those we may disagree with, and this piece was published in the spirit. James bennett wrote, readers who might be inclined to oppose cottons position needs to be fully aware of it and reckon with it. The paper said we found a rushed editorial process led to an oped that didnt meet our standard. There was a tense town hall meeting with staffers on friday. Salzburger said cottons piece shouldnt run and bennett announced it would not run in print and there wouldnt be as many opeds in the future. Friday evening the times added an editors note to the piece explaining the reasoning behind why it was published and what went wrong and expressing regrets and factchecking the piece. All of this is just cannon fodder for senator cotton who went on fox news and elsewhere blasting the times saying the paper caved to a mob of woke kids in the newsroom. There are generational divides here but that is not entirely what this is about. There are other aspects as well. Lets bring in nikole hannahjones, the founder of the 1619 project. Nikole, what happened from your perspective . I think we saw kind of a bunch of things occurring at once. The opposition let me just say that the New York Times journalist who oppose this column love the institution of the New York Times intensely and also care deeply about journali journalism. What was the main issue is you have a u. S. Senator in the party you you pofer saying he wants to use the military to repress dissent, not going into the normal factchecking process that anyone making such claims should go through and making assertions that our own reporters had discredited through their reporting. That was the main concern. But i think so what happened is a larger symptom that were seeing in News Organizations across the country, which is they are really struggling to cover in a way that appears to be nonpartisan a Political Landscape where one Political Party in many ways has gone rogue and not following the rules. If youre covering that straight down the line, you look like youre picking sides. So, this adherence to evenhandedness, both sidism, the view from nowhere doesnt actually work in the political circumstances that were in. And what a lot of people said is that, you know, it is fine. We as a News Organization must air the opinion of someone like senator tom cotton, but in a news article where we can check the facts, where we can push back, that you dont just hand over your platform to someone that powerful making assertions that might have been unconstitutional and most certainly some of them were not accurate. So, it is not just a New York Times. News organizations have been struggling with how do you cover where we are politically without always having to get those calls that somehow the coverage is in opposition to the Republican Party as opposed to just covering what is happening. I agree with you that other news outlets are struggling with this as well, these dynamics. There are some who hear about this who say, this is liberal intolerance. What happened to free speech . Meet more free speech with more speech . Thats a bedrock idea. Are you saying that its that bedrock idea doesnt hold up anymore . Well, free speech is not that i as a sitting senator or i as someone sitting in my living room has the right to run my opinions in the New York Times unedited and unchecked. Thats not what free speech is. Senator cotton certainly has the write and say what he wants in this country but we as a News Organization should not be oning something offering misinformation to the public unchecked. Yes, we absolutely believe his views should be aired. That is necessary. We know someone with this power thinks this way. But thats a different thing all together than simply allowing someone to say things that are not true, to make assertions that might be unconstitutional without a check. Many of us journalists said there should have been a news article where his views were aired but in a way that was factual because we know we are struggling with americans getting this information and our role as journalists is to give people correct information so they can make decisions. Yeah, my reaction to the oped was, hes overreacting. Everythings okay. These cities can get through this on their own. It was ugly in new york city but we dont need federal troops. He was just overreacting. Let me bring in another guest, karen attiah and oliver darcy. Karen, you run the Global Opinion section for the Washington Post. How do you think the times handled this . You know, theres a longstanding norm that were not supposed to criticize competitors, but okay. No, but no, but, in this case, this was a case where i was very vocal about even this notion, right, that tom cotton doesnt have any other platforms to make some of these assertions. Hes a sitting lawmaker. There are other platforms. As an opinion editor, opinion journalism is still journalism. Its still through factchecking, you make your argument but it needs to be based in fact and not mischaracterize reality in order to fit your agenda. So, you know, in this case, when people say, oh, but let him say what he wants, this is an attack against free speech if were not letting him write frankly, basically what tom cotton is arguing is largely Peaceful Protesters, their Free Expression of anger should be met with force. So, its interesting to me the people who are crying censorship dont see it from the other side tat calling in the u. S. Military, the most lethal military in the world, should come in and crush americans, right . So, i think thats part of it. And i think also its an issue of, again, how we cover violence. What is both sides to violence . What should the other side of that be . Should the onus be to find an oped that says, protesters, go arm yourself, defend yourself against the military. You know, i think that that those are the questions that arent thought through when theres a rush to get a provocative piece that, again, right now the debate right now is