‘An employee’s boss’: How HuffPost’s Danielle Belton will steer the newsroom after a tumultuous year

Danielle Belton has a difficult task before her.

On April 12, she stepped in as HuffPost’s editor-in-chief following a tumultuous time for the BuzzFeed-owned news outlet, especially at a time when digital publishers are battling for readers’ attention. Not only is she expected to steady a newsroom that had been without an editor-in-chief for more than a year, but also answer employees’ calls for more diversity and inclusion at the company.

Belton’s hire is a “landmark event” after the “stormy seas” at HuffPost, said Peter Bittner, a journalist and lecturer at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. The job is a “huge responsibility,” at a time when many first-generation digital news publishers are “struggling to compete in a very crowded media environment,” he added.

“It takes a very clear, consistent voice and brand to break through all the noise and develop direct relationships with readers… The whole industry will be watching her,” Bittner said.

Fortunately, for HuffPost, Belton — who was respected and beloved as editor-in-chief at The Root, G/O Media’s Black news and culture site — appears to be particularly well suited to her new position. The HuffPost union had asked its former parent company Verizon Media to release pay equity data and to promote and hire more people of color last year. In an interview with Digiday, Belton said her long-term priority is “the health and growth of HuffPost, as well as to increase diversity.” That includes hiring more Black, Latinx, Asian and Arab American journalists.

Belton spoke about growing up hearing stories of how Black people were targeted and mistreated in society and watching newsrooms rarely cover these stories. Having a diverse editorial staff means an opportunity to give people of different backgrounds a chance to share their perspectives on the world around them, she said.

Belton encourages staff to “speak our truths. She understands how important voice and sharing that voice is. That’s priceless,” said Panama Jackson, senior editor at The Root.

Taking on this position at HuffPost “gives me a chance to shape a modern newsroom that is a much more inclusive reflection of America,” Belton said.

While BuzzFeed and other digital news organizations publicly released diversity statistics last year, Verizon Media did not release data specifically on HuffPost’s breakdown.

In the near term, Belton wants to stabilize a newsroom that has been rocked by BuzzFeed’s acquisition of the outlet from Verizon Media, a deal that closed in February, and a round of layoffs that affected 70 HuffPost employees the following month.

Less than two weeks into the role, Belton already appears to be winning over HuffPost employees. “She’s communicated her commitment to diversifying the newsroom and to get BIPOC journalists to stay, succeed and grow,” said a current HuffPost employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The employee said the editorial staff was “excited” about Belton, and they hope she “will listen to the needs of the staff and defend the editorial integrity of HuffPost.”

The employee praised Belton’s “month-long listening tour,” where she is hosting …read more

Source:: Digiday