Last year,
The Washington Post created
The Root, an online magazine that features content from leading black writers, as well as information about genealogy.
The site, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary at the end of January, was the brainchild of Donald Graham, chief executive officer and chairman of the board at
The Washington Post, and
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University.
The Root was started for two reasons, says Lynette Clemetson, the site's managing editor. One was to provide a site for predominantly black readers that wasn't just about entertainment but that captured stories from black perspectives on politics, technology, social issues and more. The other was to make up for the lack of black voices in the mainstream media.
"Part of what we're doing," Clemetson said, "is filling a void for our audience -- for a savvy, well-read, black readership."
The Root's readers are largely reflective of the Obama generation. In general, they are between the ages of 25 and 44 and are mostly, though not exclusively, African American. Much of the site's content would be attractive, Clemetson said, to readers of Slate, which is another online magazine owned by the
Post. The Root cross-pollinates stories with
Slate,
The Washington Post, The Big Money and
Newsweek.
The timing of Obama's election has worked out well for the site's first year. There has been so great a need for stories about Obama, Clemetson said, that The Root decided to hire its first full-time reporter, Dayo Olopade, to cover the presidency and other related stories. Freelancers -- educators, journalists, etc. -- generate the rest of the site's content.
"It's a great time for a black Web site that is focused fairly heavily on politics to have an official presence in Washington," said Clemetson
, who came to The Root from
The New York Times. "Politics became a very important part of the site because we became a place for black readers to come and share perspective and read them. In a space that didn't exist anywhere else, politics became so heavy a topic I don't think we were prepared for it."
The site responded to this need by hiring Olopade and by stepping up its written and multimedia content about Obama. The site, for instance, currently features a video titled
"Walking in the Front Door." In the video, Gates, who is The Root's editor-in-chief, discusses the significance of a black person entering the White House through the front door instead of the servants' entrance.
Some worry, Clemetson said, that sites like The Root give mainstream media outlets an excuse not to cover stories about black history.
"One of the things we heard a lot was people were happy that The Root existed, but in some ways it was double edged sword," Clemetson said. "Faithful news readers didn't want
The New York Times or [other news organizations] to think they were off the hook just because The Root existed. It's just a different perspective."
Obama, though, seems to represent a sign of progress for mainstream news organizations, as it has been for The Root's development and growth.
"There were whole groups of young black reporters who saw possibility for themselves and their careers, during Jesse Jackson's political campaigns," she said. "I think for people interested in political reporting, Obama's presidency might have an unprecedented benefit because there may be young students who were wondering whether or not they should try to be a political reporter who have pushed into the 'yes' column."
