At the annual Journalism & Women Symposium, (L to R), Angela Greiling Keane, JAWS president; and Sally Buzbee, U.S./Canada editor for Reuters.

It’s not easy being a leader identifying as female at a high profile, legacy media outlet today. But it never has been, even as the numbers of women journalists running top outlets globally is recent and pretty rare.

Speaking at the recent 40th anniversary of the Journalism & Women Symposium annual CAMP in Washington, D.C., recently, JAWS President Angela Greiling Keane, Bloomberg Government News Director, said the theme of the conference, “Persevere and Persist,” is especially relevant today in a harrowing time for journalists covering politics in the U.S..

“In everything we do, we try to make the public understand independent information is important,” said Sally Buzbee, U.S./Canada editor for Reuters, who oversees coverage of the White House, administration, and general news across the U.S. and Canada.

“In everything we do, we try to make the public understand independent information is important,” said Sally Buzbee, U.S./Canada editor @Reuters @womenjournos @takeleadwomen”

“Trying to talk to the public about access has such a range of challenges,” said Buzbee, who was until recently the first woman to serve as executive editor of the Washington Post.

“There is a flood of news, as in any given day five or six significant things are happening,” said Buzbee, who previously was executive editor of The Associated Press. Having served as a reporter in Kansas City, California and Washington, D.C. with five years in the Middle East overseeing AP’s coverage of the Iraq war, Buzbee said she observes a very different role of journalists today in the age of social media.

“Things are being done to change civil society at a rapid pace. A government official tweeting out what happened is not the information the public needs to know. It is a real fight for accuracy of information across the globe,” Buzbee said.

““Things are being done to change civil society at a rapid pace. It is a real fight for accuracy of information across the globe,” said Sally Buzbee @Reuters editor @womenjournos #disinformation ”

To that end, just over a week after the JAWS Conference, Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, was fired for posting on social media verbatim quotes from Charlie Kirk, a conservative influencer who was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University.

Prior to the 2020 election, Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead, quoting Attiah in her column on Kamala Harris, writing, “This is a triumphant moment that calls for celebration. The best way for America to honor Harris’s historical moment is to protect, support and elevate Black women,” Attiah wrote.

A speaker at the 2022 JAWS CAMP, Attiah said, in what can now be seen as truly prescient, in view of her firing, “As for our industry, it does feel as if our home is on fire. I worry about the digital violence that makes our work a living reminder of the dangers of this profession.”

She added, that as a Black woman journalist, she sees that many are targets for discriminate, hate and firing. “There are systems that just do not want us in the public square,” said Attiah.

Given recent actions seen as efforts to erase free speech and silence particular journalists, earlier in 2025, MSNBC replaced President Rashida Jones, followed by cancellation of Joy Reid’s show.

The current level of frustration concerning viral, intentional disinformation and pushback on women journalists and leaders —especially WOC—affects not just individual columnists and editors, but the entire journalism industry.

Speaking at the recent conference, Buzbee said, “We need to be transparent so people start believing in us again. The world is massively interested in what is happening here, but Americans are tired.”

That is why in journalism, leadership style is critical, Keane said. “You have to delegate well, praise quietly and publicly.”

““You have to delegate well, praise quietly and publicly,” said Angela Greiling Keane, @womenjournos president and @Bloomberg Government News Director. #leadership #genderequity”

Buzbee said her management style changed when she was in the Middle East reporting, as “culture matters,” and treating each other with empathy is critical.”

Acknowledging that traditional media institutions have their own cultures, and individuals have their own styles, Buzbee said, “I do feel my management style could be for a woman or a man, but some people think my management style is because I am a woman.”

At Reuters, a 2024 diversity report shows the gender, race and sexual orientation data for all newsrooms. In 2022, Reuters leadership in newsrooms was 48% female and 52% male.

A Pew Research Center report in 2022 shows a lack of perceived diversity in their newsrooms. “Younger and female journalists are often more likely than their older and male peers to think there is not enough diversity in their organizations. For example, 68% of journalists ages 18 to 29 say there is not enough racial and ethnic diversity at their organization.”

“2022 @PewResearchCenter: Lack of diversity in newsrooms w/ 68% of journalists 18-29 say not enough racial, ethnic #diversity in #newsrooms. @womenjournos #journalism ”

Perhaps predictably, 59% of journalists who are women say there is not sufficient diversity in their newsroom, compared with 46% of men who say the same, Pew reports.

As the first woman executive editor at the Washington Post, Buzbee said, “What is really important is having a second or third female editor. This industry has a long way to go.”

“As 1st woman executive editor @WashingtonPost, Sally Buzbee said: “What is really important is having a second or third female editor. This industry has a long way to go.” @womenjournos #diversity #genderequity @takeleadwomen”

Leaving the Washington Post in 2024 for “restructuring,” Buzbee said, “We’re in an era where policies are being pushed to not focus on proactive change.”

The callouts in White House press conferences targeting individual reporters and the attacks on broadcast and print journalists is an ongoing concern. “There is such a range of challenges against journalism in the world, with more serious ones in Washington, D.C.,” Buzbee said. “Are we focused enough on accountability journalism?” she asked.

Washington Press Club Foundation President Deborah Barfield Berry, recently a national correspondent for USA TODAY, said the mission of JAWS to support “anyone who self-identifies as a woman, or as a non-binary, gender-nonconforming or agender person” in journalism aligns with the mission of the Press Club to support “the next generation of journalists” as well as trailblazers. The Press Club celebrates 50 years in operation this year, Barry says.

Honored for her contributions to journalism in the JAWS 40th Anniversary Interview, Peggy Simpson shared her own legacy. Beginning her career in 1962 in the Dallas office of the Associated Press, Simpson was covering John F. Kennedy’s visit to Dallas in November 1963 when he was assassinated in his motorcade.

“Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald four feet away from me,” Simpson said.

Since then there has been a momentum to reduce discrimination for gender and race, she said, but it is a difficult era in the news industry.

“There is a lot of turmoil in the economy and the way things are structured,” Simpson said. “It’s a splintering of structures and economies of news. “ She added, “You can’t just think everything is a bed of roses.”

The physical, emotional and intellectual challenges of being a journalist today require stamina and self-care at a time when trust in journalism is waning.

When asked to define self-care, “One hundred women have 100 different responses,” said Randi Braun, CEO of the coaching firm, Something Major, and author of Something Major: The New Playbook for Women at Work.

Braun addressed the 150 members and attendees calling out the fallacies of self-care myths.

First, there is the “myth of indulgence” assigned to self-care, Braun said, followed by the myth of productivity “that is killing them,” and the myth of gratitude, saying, “You should be grateful” for everything.

The perpetual “fear of other people’s opinions,” holds many leaders back as does the overuse of “shoulds,” or constant shaming yourself for what you should be doing. “You are burning yourself out with multi-tasking,” Braun says.

“The perpetual ‘fear of other people’s opinions,’ holds many leaders back as does overuse of ‘shoulds,’ or constantly shaming yourself for what you should be doing,” said Randi Braun, CEO Something Major, author of Something Major: The New Playbook for #Women at Work.”

Braun concluded, “In a world where self-care has become toxic, try five minutes of something joyful, or micro-dosing on feeling good.”

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com

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