LATEST DIVERSITY NEWS
Variety
Debra Lee is stepping down from her position as chairman and CEO of BET Networks effective May 28, the company announced Thursday.
TechCrunch
In March, the female-led media company and newsletter provider theSkimm reported it was raising a $12 million Series C from Google Ventures and Spanx founder Sara Blakely, along with several existing investors. Today, the company is confirming its Series C round has closed with a number of new, mostly female investors joining - including big names like Shonda Rhimes and Tyra Banks.
The New York Times
Royal watchers wondered how the wedding of the Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to Harry, the Duke of Sussex, would nod to black identity, and the resounding answer came in the ceremony on Saturday.
The Hollywood Reporter
Meredith Vieira Productions (MVP) is looking to empower female directors. It has partnered with This Is Just A Test (TIJAT) on an initiative to fund the development of documentary projects directed by women. The initiative is for female helmers - who comprised only 33 percent of documentary filmmakers in 2016-17 - seeking development funding for both documentary features and series.
Entertainment Weekly
After becoming the first woman of color to win an Emmy for writing on a comedy series, MTV is honoring the Master of None writer and The Chi creator with its Trailblazer Award at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
WNYC
Farai Chideya, program officer for journalism for the Ford Foundation and fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, authored the report: "In the Shadow of Kerner: Fifty Years Later, Newsroom Diversity and Equity Stall."
The Hollywood Reporter
After more than a decade of trial and error in the Indian film sector, Hollywood studios are finally beginning to find their groove. And their success is coming from a rather unexpected slice of the market: diverse and offbeat stories, rather than the standard Bollywood tentpole.
The New York Times
Stacey Abrams, who won the Democratic primary for governor, was born and raised in Mississippi. But in many ways she is a product of Georgia's capital city, which she once represented in the state House of Representatives.