Date of Award

8-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Executive Leadership

First Supervisor

Daniele Lyman-Torres, EdD

Second Supervisor

Elizabeth Keida, EdD

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the lived experiences of six Black female television journalists working in newsrooms throughout the United States. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to select the participants, with half the participants coming from a Black online networking group, Black Girls in Broadcasting, and the other half coming from the snowball sampling. The data were collected via Zoom utilizing one-on-one, semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 60 minutes. The qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodology used in this allowed the participants to not only share their lived experiences but explain how they made sense of what happened to them. The research findings directly relate to the research question and purpose and produced raw and revealing lived experiences from the participants. The findings are significant because they not only show a pattern of racism and discrimination toward Black female journalists in the United States that has existed for over 80 years, but they also show there is a bias in the recruitment of Black female college students by television stations for television intern programs. The implications of this study are that Black female journalists are discriminated against long before they enter newsrooms; and without newsroom management understanding the social value and profitability of diverse newsrooms, Black female journalists will continue to struggle with upward mobility. Recommendations include targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion training for newsroom executives.

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