Delano Massey saw a lack in the newsroom, and he wasn't afraid to speak up.
Massey came to CNN to run the justice department. He worked there during the summer of 2020, which was a time of great unrest. The events brought to his attention a gap within the newsroom. Massey wanted to find a way to start an internal discussion within the newsroom of better ways to cover communities impacted by the unrest.
"We needed to find a better way to harness the race coverage to reach more people in a powerful way," says Massey.
The gap was the editorial table lacked diversity in making news decisions, which shaped coverage and limited perspective.
His solution was forming a Race and Equality team at CNN that bridges that gap. The team brings awareness to race coverage. Focusing on communities and the best ways to reach the people within them results in better quality news coverage.
Massey pitched the idea to CNN, which I could only imagine to be extremely intimidating. But, Massey was confident in his idea and valued his own opinion. That is something I really admired about him. The pitch was a success and the team was formed.
I like his response to the question about if he faced pushback on his idea. He responded, "Resistance is a friend of mine."
Initially there is always pushback, but Massey wasn't frustrated by it. Instead, he took the opportunity to frame the idea in a different way to help others better understand.
One story that serves as an example of reframing a story was published on November 8 by Massey and other contributors covering the funeral for a man who had passed 123 years ago. The reason for the delay was race related. He was a Black man killed in a massacre done by White supremacists. Massey emphasized the fact the it was more than a funeral, it was Joshua Halsey receiving recognition for the injustice he faced.
Massey's team played a role in the story production by bringing a diverse perspective to the table ensuring the coverage was done appropriately and right.
Another story was the trial around the killing of Breonna Taylor. It was the first major case the team worked on. Massey and his team made sure the network understood the trial needed more attention. At the time there was already a lot of coverage, but the grand jury decision was crucial news that needed highlighted.
Massey exemplifies what it means to be an innovator. I admire his confidence and insight within the newsroom and hope to carry those values myself in my future journalism career.
Hi Juliana. I wish I could have seen Delano Massey speak. It seemed like a very successful and enlightening presentation. I too find presentations similar to this eye-opening, if you will, and helpful. As future journalists, it is imperative that we work with our peers and team members to be innovators to better our field. It is with the best interest for the public to relay all insights and factual information.
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