Susan Goldberg, center, editor in chief of National Geographic magazine, during a layout conference with editors in 2015. At left is Sarah Leen, Director of Photography, and on the right is David Lindsey, Executive Editor for News and Features. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
Twitter is on fire today with people (mostly women) naming some of their favorite female journalists after Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times asked for nominees. Everyone from Ida B. Wells to Rachel Maddow got a shout-out.
It got me thinking about a much narrower subset — women who are, right now, at the top of newsrooms or media organizations in the United States.
This isn’t to minimize the writing or on-air talent, or those who are in jobs just under the top tier, or those from an earlier era, but to recognize some leaders right now.
I’ll note that at large American newspapers, there are far fewer top female editors than a decade ago, according to a 2014 Nieman Reports study.
And we’ve seen some high-profile departures from top-tier media ranks, notably NBC’s Deborah Turness and, of course, Jill Abramson from the New York Times.
I know this list will be incomplete, so please add whoever is missing in the comments below. (This post has been updated with some of the most obvious omissions.)
Sally Buzbee, executive editor of the Associated Press
Lydia Polgreen, editor in chief of the Huffington Post
Susan Goldberg, editor in chief of National Geographic magazine
Amanda Bennett, director of Voice of America
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of the Nation
Clara Jeffery, editor in chief of Mother Jones magazine
Debbie Henley, editor of Newsday
Nancy Barnes, editor of the Houston Chronicle
Lee Glendinning, editor of the Guardian US
Elizabeth Green, CEO and editor in chief of Chalkbeat
Melissa Bell, publisher of Vox Media
Lara Setrakian, CEO of News Deeply
Aminda Marqués Gonzalez, executive editor of the Miami Herald
Pamela Colloff, executive editor of Texas Monthly
Betsy Reed, editor in chief of the Intercept
Dao Nguyen, publisher of BuzzFeed
Nancy Gibbs, editor of Time magazine
Carrie Budoff Brown, editor of Politico
Megan Murphy, editor of Bloomberg Businessweek
Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS
Joanne Lipman, editor in chief of the USA Today Network
For more by Margaret Sullivan visit wapo.st/sullivan