Inside All The Major Media Shakeups Of The Week

After former employees took to social media to speak up about the racial discrimination they faced while working at Refinery29 (spawning the hashtag #BlackAtR29), the site's founder and Global Editor in Chief Christene Barberich announced via Instagram that she would be stepping down to make room for diversity in leadership and allow change to occur from the inside. However, commenters on her post claim that her statement excludes her from taking any personal accountability for the way Black and POC staffers were treated. 

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I’d like to start by saying that I’ve read and taken in the raw and personal accounts of Black women and women of color regarding their experiences inside our company at Refinery29. And, what's clear from these experiences, is that R29 has to change. We have to do better, and that starts with making room. And, so I will be stepping aside in my role at R29 to help diversify our leadership in editorial and ensure this brand and the people it touches can spark a new defining chapter. A chapter that demands a new voice—both for our team and our audience—one that can shape and guide the critical stories that have the real power to shift and disrupt our culture, helping to eliminate institutional barriers that separate us and hold our society back. We will begin the search for the next Global Editor-In-Chief of R29 immediately. It's time for a new generation of leadership that’s truly reflective of the diversity of our audience with divergent points of view, one that builds and expands on our original mission to amplify and celebrate a wide range of voices, perspectives, and stories...stories that need and deserve to be told. That is still at the heart of this company and why its community has loved it so much for the past 15 years. Because they ARE Refinery29 today—and what it will become—which is even more important in this moment than what inspired us to create it in the first place.

A post shared by Christene Barberich (@christenebarberich) on Jun 8, 2020 at 7:00am PDT