By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
While working on her dissertation for her doctorate, Ava Thompson Greenwell, video broadcast journalism professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., noticed a rise within major U.S. markets of White women hired as news directors.
Greenwell was moved to uncover the reasons for this phenomenon and began searching for ways to determine how Black women fared for job mobility within the industry. The result would be the best-selling book, “Ladies Leading: The Black Women Who Control Television News.”
“I was not in management during my career for stations based in Tampa and Minnesota,” she said. “I was an on-camera reporter. Still, one thing that hasn’t changed since then is the fact that it’s the folks behind the camera that really make the decisions and determine what stories are approved for TV news.”
Greenwell noted that while her research dates from the mid-80s to the 1990s, little has changed – at least not in positions in which it really matters.
“Sure, you may see a few more Black women on camera today than you did in the past, but– again– those women are not in charge,” she said. “They are not the gatekeepers. Those who serve as executive producers or news directors – they’re the ones making the decisions. So, when you see a story that paints African Americans in a negative light, but which reports on similar actions committed by Whites albeit with a more positive slant, that’s due to management.”
Greenwell said it’s crucial to see people who look like her in the newsroom– in managerial roles–now more than ever.
“It’s imperative that we see more Black women, and men, in those executive positions throughout America.”
With more than 25 years of experience teaching reporting, writing and on-camera presentation at Northwestern University, Greenwell has proven her merit as an author, documentary filmmaker, podcaster, leadership life coach and journalism professor. She also hosts a podcast that is a companion to her book, “Ladies Leading.”
In February 2021 and 2022, WTTW, a Chicago-based PBS station, aired her documentary, “Mandela in Chicago” – a film about the city’s anti-apartheid movement, which garnered critical acclaim.
In February of this year, Greenwell debuted her latest documentary, “Hearing Silences,” which highlights the challenges faced and contributions made by Black women in academia at Northwestern over the past five decades.
She became intrigued by and committed to the project in the summer of 2020 after speaking with Diana Slaughter Kotzin, Ph.D. – the first Black woman to be tenured in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University.
Greenwell said their goal was to create a documentary that would become required viewing for future students, staff and faculty who make Northwestern their home.
Through it all, she has remained passionate and committed to telling Black stories.
“Sometimes you see the same story covered by different newsrooms that are amazingly – in some cases, unbelievably – different,” she said. “Different news directors and executive producers may try to downplay the reasons behind how they direct their reporters to cover the issues and what issues they cover. But in a lot of cases, the way they ‘see’ people impacts the way they instruct their staff to report on them.”
For illustrative purposes, Greenwell recalled a news report based out of the South in which an abandoned infant was found by local officials. The differences, she said, were striking.
“When the White male reporter told the story, the child in question was just another baby,” she said. “But when a Black female reporter covered the same issue, she talked about the changing community which, formerly, would have never allowed a child to face abandonment. She talked about how the community once supported families in need. Finally, the reporter noted that the child was Black which may have led to the White reporter seeing its dilemma as minor in scope.”
Greenwell said it’s examples like the one cited above that keeps her committed to identifying, preparing and supporting more Black women as news directors and executive producers.
“Black communities understandably celebrate when we see a new face, a Black face, emerge on our television screens as a local news reporter,” she said. “But the turnover rate in the industry is extremely high. Most on-camera reporters only remain, on average, for about 2 ½ years. For Black women, the stakes are even higher, than for anyone else. We must work twice as hard and we have to always remember that we’re being watched like a hawk,” she said.
Greenwell also emphasized that news organizations, while tasked with reporting the news, have one significant goal: making money.
“The stakes are higher today than when I was on camera because tv news has become a major business entity,” she said. “The very idea of journalism being an integral part of American democracy has gone out of the window.”
Greenwell said that today’s media professionals are facing a new landscape.
“It’s just a different ballgame,” she said. “I just hope that people do their homework in terms of what tv news stations they follow and ask themselves if the journalism being reported is coming from a fair, balanced newsroom. If not, they may want to change the channel.”
The post Shaping the narrative: Ava Thompson Greenwell’s fight for diversity in newsroom leadership appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
