‘Qwestion’ & Answer with Richardine Bartee, CEO of GRUNGECAKE

Qwoted is committed to exploring the current state of the media by speaking to industry leaders and educating future generations of media professionals. What has social media and technological innovation brought to the table? What can we expect for the future of journalism?

Richardine Bartee loves the art of writing and has used it as a means to express herself since she was a child. She describes writing as her first love and constantly surrounded herself with stacks of papers, dictionaries and mechanical pencils. Her belief is that in this day and age of racing to publish articles and potentially foregoing some of the fact-checking process, now more than ever it is important to save and cherish journalism. Bartee sees hope in the people around her who care about honest journalism and are using the internet’s power to be truthful.

Social media has upended the traditional media landscape. One of the great challenges it creates is authenticity and malevolent actors. How do you think journalists and reporters should deal with the rising tide of misinformation?

RB: News can “break” on social media, but as journalists, we need to see ourselves as the “final stamp”. By the time we get to it and are about to publish, all of the facts should be presented. I think that we cannot and should not compete with social media. We have to allow it to be what it is. When we step in, it is to tell the story with the help of its remnants.

The profession of journalism feels more attacked today than in a long time, but also highly necessary. Do you feel that’s true, and if so, why?

RB: Yes, I think it is true. We must remember our integrity and biases in these spaces. Some news stations, anchors, and editorial teams have allowed their personal views on politics, race, and whatever else they believe in to seep into their reporting. Unfortunately, it hurts the United States as a country more than it helps and I believe that it is important to try not to pick sides when reporting the news. As professionals, reporters are there to deliver the facts.

What do you think about the role of technology in journalism? Is it helpful? harmful? Something in between?

RB: I invite technology. I believe it is one thing that helped me get discovered as a woman of colour in the early 00s. Technology is how I started contributing to MTV. Technology is helpful in getting more people of colour telling their stories on significant platforms – something I wish to see more of in my lifetime.

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