Join me this week as I chat with Alexis Johnson about the inclusion of Blacks in the newsroom. In June 2020, Alexis sued her employer, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, alleging the news outlet was engaging in racial discrimination and illegal retaliation. On May 31, Alexis posted a tweet about the different ways Blacks and whites are portrayed after acts of property damage. After catching wind of the tweet, her editors told her she could no longer cover stories on the Black Lives Matters movement across the city of Pittsburgh. Alexis had already planned stories on jailed protestors and social media efforts to raise bail funds which had to be shut down. Her suit states that white reporters who have posted similar social medial posts did not receive the same treatment. Because of the ongoing litigation, Alexis could not talk about the lawsuit with me during our conversation. But, you can read more about that story online. Let me tell you more about Alexis and her background. Almost a decade of journalism experience, first appearing on the News Station of her undergrad college, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in communication & media studies. After receiving her Master degree in Media Studies & Production from Temple University, she went on to work as a production assistant at NBC-10 in Philadelphia. Her experience also includes working as a multimedia journalist at WVVA in West Virginia, a breaking news reporter for NJ.com, a freelance writer for Urban Islandz and a digital news editor at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette before landing her current role at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette as a Trending News Reporter. In this role, she is responsible for publishing multi-media content for post-gazette.com and all social media platforms. You can connect with Alexis on Twitter here