As within the majority of corporate offices, there's an elephant in most media rooms. But for journalists, that elephant interferes with their sense of a job well done.
For Black reporters, there’s an unspoken pressure to do right by your people with this uniquely powerful platform. Resultantly, there are stressors which go beyond biting your tongue when a racial microaggression pops up by the watercooler, or having to explain you don't have an attitude because your step occasionally lacks pep. It's about whether you've used your position to ensure at least one Black perspective has woven its way into a mostly whitewashed news cycle.
For former ESPN anchor, Jemele Hill, it was using her Twitter account — followed by thousands — to say what some public figures within mainstream media were hesitant to: The president of the United States is a white supremacist.
When Donald Trump got wind of the September 11, 2017 tweet, which was written while Hill was an anchor on ESPN's SC6, he, along with his followers, called for her termination from the network. The post came just days after the president chose to not condemn the violence exhibited by neo-Nazis during their Unite the Right rally.
Despite the s**t storm which ensued, Hill, who left ESPN in September and now hosts the podcast "Jemele Hill Is Unbothered" on Spotify, never retracted her words. She found her statement akin to saying "water is wet." Hill found herself in hot water again when she suggested folks who were upset by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' threat to punish players who protested on the field to boycott the team's merchandise.
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The 43-year-old had a commitment to speaking nothing less than fact, which is to be expected of journalists. However, the way she spoke up on matters of race and social justice, iterating these words outside of her day job, was particularly admirable. Black people who've had to mince words in corporate spaces admired her tenacity. For Black journalists — at least, for myself — she set the standard for how we should be moving within this industry; without fear, no matter the potential for whitelash.
The Detroit native sat down with Blavity during a launch celebration of her new podcast to discuss what feeds her journalistic fuel.
"The reasons I got into this business still remain the same," Hill said while rocking her signature braids. "I got in this business to expose the truth, whatever that truth may be."
While adding that "fairness, integrity and accuracy" remain vital to her craft, she also entered journalism to shake the table. There are fewer instances in which it would be more appropriate to say she did that.
If Hill was fazed by the onslaught of criticism that came with her outspokenness, it certainly didn't show. She continued to call out the wayward ways of the NFL amid the controversy surrounding the blackballing of former San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick and is still vocal about her opposition to Trump.
In July, Hill condemned the NFL's laissez-faire attitude toward criminals in the league in comparison to how it ostracized Kaepernick.
"Journalists — we are not here to be liked," Hill told Blavity. "We're here to disrupt the system; hold the people in power accountable. And as long as I continue to do that, the results kind of don't matter; the integrity and core of the business matter more to me than however many awards I win or don't win."
Hill is also cognizant of her influence.
"It has a subset, and it's mentoring other journalists of color. This business is still way too white and it's way too male — especially at this crucial time in history, in particular. We need journalists of color who can tell a complete and accurate picture of what's happening right now. You cannot have a story of this country being told without us.”
You can head to Spotify to listen to Hill and co-hosts Michael Arceneaux and Cole Wiley be "Unbothered," while chopping it up on everything from pop culture to politics.
Now, check these out:
ESPN's Michael Smith Exits 'SportsCenter' Just Two Months After Jemele Hill
