I didn’t know what I was going to do in college until my senior year of high school, but one thing I did know was that I loved to write. I always have, and sometimes I find power and strength within my words and those of others more than anything else. Though the history lessons sometimes gloss over them, some of the most influential journalists to me have been women. In honor of them, here are five of my favorite role models, in no particular order, that worked in the journalism field.
1. Nellie Bly
If you ever had a love for the musical “Newsies,” you know that the original actress Kara Lindsay drew her character inspiration for Katherine from historic investigative journalist Elizabeth Cochran, better known for her pen name Nellie Bly. Bly broke out in the journalism field when she went undercover in a mental health asylum to expose the awful conditions. She kickstarted investigative journalism and worked to raise awareness for mental health. She also grew up in Pittsburgh (which is where I am from).
2. Ida B. Wells
Wells is one of the more famous women on this list because of her work advocating against the conditions of African Americans in the South. Her story is one of my personal favorites because she endured so much in order to have a historic career. Her most notable published works come from her exposés on lynching that enraged Memphis locals who then threatened her to the point where she had to leave town. She never let that stop her and continued to travel and cover lynching across the country.
Leslie Visser is an icon in the sports reporting world because she has done what no man nor woman had ever done before. Visser is the only sports broadcaster to work on the Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Monday Night Football, the Super Bowl, Olympics, and the U.S. Open broadcasts. Women are severely outnumbered and sometimes undervalued in the sports world even today, so for the most accomplished sportscaster to be a woman is incredible.
This may be one of my favorite historical stories on this list and is probably one of the most obscure. Alice Allison Dunnigan made history as the first female correspondent at the White House. Not only that, she also was the first African American woman to be a part of the House and Senate press galleries. She paved the way for countless others like her to have a place in the political media world. She faced racism and segregation, but that never deterred her from making history and doing what she was passionate about.
The end of 2022 was a sad day in the broadcast industry. Barbara Walters was a monumental figure in the broadcasting world. Known for her effective and strong interview techniques, Walters got the answers that no one expected her to and at one point was one of the highest paid journalists. The Emmy winner was renowned for capturing elusive interviews with political figures and celebrities that no one else could get. She is inspiring to little girls with dreams just as big as hers once were.
There are so many other strong and inspiring women that have worked to change the world and how women are viewed, but these are just a few that have stuck with me as I’m working towards my future career. I look to their struggles and successes to keep me going when I feel like giving up.