From The Red & Black:
Welcome to our submission for the 2020 Innovation Pacemaker award.
ABOUT US
The Red & Black is a student-run, independent newspaper in Athens, Georgia. We cover the city of Athens and the University of Georgia, Georgia’s first public institution.
This summer, many things changed for us.
We learned how to report without meeting in person for an entire semester, we developed editorial policies regarding safety and ethics as we covered local protests and we looked internally at our own newsroom to eventually have difficult but necessary conversations about diversity.
On this website, you'll find examples of our innovative content this summer.
FROM OUR PHOTO DESK
Our photo desk tirelessly covered local protests for racial justice. Below are photos from a June 1 protest — only days after the killing of George Floyd — at which Athens police fired tear gas at protestors.
After our photo editor experienced what tear gas felt like for the first time, she wrote an article about what she packed in her bag when she went to following protests. Click here to read "What I bring as a photojournalist covering the protests."
She also talked about the editorial decision on not blurring protesters' faces in our podcast, The Front Page. Click here to listen.
OTHER INNOVATIVE EDITORIAL DECISIONS
As protests for racial justice were happening in our own backyard, we at The Red & Black had a reckoning with the problems within our own newsroom.
After multiple semesters of discussing a diversity issue in our staff, we officially addressed it this summer. We also finally announced tangible and intentional future recruitment efforts to diversify our editorial staff and establish an inclusion task force.
Read our digital managing editor's editorial: "Addressing the lack of diversity at The Red & Black."
We also had to make an editorial decision about how strictly we would continue to follow the Associated Press Stylebook.
AP Style did not capitalize the 'B' in Black until June 19.
Although we defer to AP Style in our writing, our editorial board decided to capitalize 'B' in Black on June 16.
Read our news assistant's article about the editorial decision here.
OUR SPECIAL EDITION
We faced budget cuts due to the pandemic, and we went from weekly print editions to online-only content. We printed one special issue this summer that focuses on the movement for racial justice. With extraordinary artwork and an innovative and interactive interface, feel free to click through this summer's issue. If you're having trouble viewing, click here.
PODCAST EPISODES
Some of our podcast episodes also highlight our summer coverage.
IN THIS EPISODE, we reviewed our summer coverage and talked about the future of our city. Click here to listen.
IN THIS EPISODE, we talked about the University of Georgia’s reopening, which our newsroom tirelessly covered to make sure we held our school’s administration accountable. Click here to listen.
Thank you so much for reviewing our application and submission.