The birth of the 19th came in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 electoral loss — and a growing frustration that traditional news media wasn’t equipped to cover women in political life.
By Elahe Izadi
“Joe Biden had the audacity to choose a Black woman to be his running mate — how incredible is that?” Harris told Haines at the time.
Now, nearly five years later, the nonprofit news outfit that covers politics and policy with a focus on gender is gearing up to cover a presidential election cycle that, for the first time, has a woman of color at the top of a major party ticket.
“The moment we’re in right now, in a lot of ways, is the moment our newsroom was made for,” said Emily Ramshaw, the 19th’s CEO and co-founder. “It’s absolutely fine to question a candidate’s credentials. But the 19th exists to make sure we don’t question the electability of women, and of women of color in particular. We exist to normalize the leadership of women and queer people.”
What Ramshaw and fellow co-founder Amanda Zamora started in January 2020 — a newsroom with just one reporter and no website — has grown into a digital operation that has raised nearly $60 million and employs 55 people. And in a sign of its growing ambitions, the 19th has now hired veteran news executive LaSharah Bunting, CEO of the Online News Association, as its first vice president, a role created to build up the 19th’s fundraising and budget operations.
The name refers to the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. The site — which covers gender broadly and also focuses on LGBTQ issues — added an asterisk to its logo in recognition that the promise of the 19th Amendment, in practical terms, did not extend to non-White women until decades later.
Bunting, previously an editor at the New York Times and an executive and editor at Simon and Schuster, said that she was excited to return to a newsroom and that, as a Black woman, its particular mission resonates with her.
At the 19th, “I don’t have to convince anyone that it’s important that we cover these underrepresented communities and that it’s important that we give voice to people whose stories and experiences are not reflected,” Bunting said.
One recent 19th story questioned the assumption that Harris needed to select a White man as her running mate. The publication has also focused on abortion rights; an October 2023 story compiled past antiabortion comments made by an Arizona Supreme Court justice, which trigged a controversy when picked up by local and regional news outlets. The justice eventually recused himself from a major abortion case.
A prevailing question behind the recent surge of nonprofit start-ups — the Institute for Nonprofit News now counts more than 400 newsrooms as members, up from 27 in 2009 — is whether they can actually attract audiences to their own sites. From its launch, the 19th adopted a strategy of sharing its work with other news outlets. Its first stories appeared on The Washington Post’s website; more recent publishing partners have included Teen Vogue, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and PBS News.
This year, it launched a news network offering its journalism to local and regional publications free as well as reporting and editing assistance on fraught topics such as abortion that might challenge smaller newsrooms. About 90 newsrooms have signed on as partners.
The 19th also has devoted a series to “the toll of America’s anti-trans war,” which it describes as an examination of how legislation targeting trans people affects cisgender people as well.
“This isn’t hard for us,” Ramshaw said. “We approach trans rights and trans folks with the ultimate humanity, which is how I think all newsrooms should be covering these issues.”
While the nonprofit news sector has seen revenue growth, there have also been high-profile cutbacks, such as at the Texas Tribune, which reduced its staff size for the first time last year.
But Bunting remains optimistic. The general public — including many well-heeled donors — increasingly understands the need to support journalism, she said, noting the $500 million Press Forward initiative to funnel money into local news from 22 donors, including the MacArthur and Knight foundations.
“You’re seeing funders understand the need for quality journalism and have connected in their minds that an informed public helps to support the other causes they’re supporting,” she said.
In May, the 19th received a multimillion-dollar donation from Melinda French Gates — Ramshaw declined to disclose the exact amount — which has funded reporting in states where abortion rights are in the balance this election cycle.
The donation also allowed the 19th to create its first endowment, which Ramshaw called its first “true safety net.” She wants the endowment to grow to the point that it can eventually underwrite the 19th’s operations.
“In a time when so many newsrooms are struggling so mightily, and our industry is in many ways in crisis, to me the goal is to make the 19th the safest and soundest newsroom in the country,” Ramshaw said.
