Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network

Episode: Gwyneth Mellinger, "Racializing Objectivity: How the White Southern Press Used Journalism Standards to Defend Jim Crow" (U Massachusetts Press, 2024)
Date: December 6, 2025
Host: Kavi Sarathi
Guest: Gwyneth Mellinger

Episode Overview

This episode features a discussion between host Kavi Sarathi and author Gwyneth Mellinger, whose book, Racializing Objectivity: How the White Southern Press Used Journalism Standards to Defend Jim Crow, investigates how white Southern newspapers weaponized the concept of “objective journalism” to reinforce segregation and discredit both the Black press and integration efforts during the World War II through the 1950s. The episode highlights the mechanics of institutional racism within journalism, the evolution and marginalization of the Black press, and the persistent lessons for journalists today.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Book Origins & Historical Context

• Timeframe:
  • The period studied is from WWII (1940-41) through 1957, ending with the forced integration of Central High School in Little Rock—an event that shifted national conversations on race and federal intervention. (03:08)
• Archival Research:
  • Mellinger delved deeply into correspondence, speeches, magazine articles, and newspaper columns, discovering a pattern in how white Southern editors defined “objectivity” and contrasted their own work against that of the Black and Northern liberal presses. (05:02)

2. Journalism Standards as Weapons

• Weaponization of Objectivity:

  • White Southern editors claimed that only their work was truly “objective,” thus positioning themselves as more accurate, noble, and legitimate while dismissing rival outlets as biased or unprofessional. (05:28)

• Ideological Underpinnings:

  • Terms like “merit” and “patriotism” were used as ideological shields to mask the perpetuation of segregationist viewpoints. (06:21)

    "Sometimes those kinds of concepts... do a lot of ideological heavy lifting for other ideological agendas."
    —Gwyneth Mellinger (06:21)

• Advice for Journalists:

  • Importance of interrogating beneath the surface—not just public statements, but actual practices and private correspondence. (06:45)

  • Revealed a disconnect: public professionalism often masked private racism and complicity, as seen in personal archives. (07:31)

    "Editors who would never... have used the N word would do so in what they perceive to be the privacy of their conversation through the mail."
    —Gwyneth Mellinger (07:56)

3. Evolution and Role of the Black Press

• History & Influence:
  • The Black press originated in the 1820s alongside the abolitionist movement, giving voice to a marginalized population. By WWII, it had peaked in circulation, directly addressing Black Americans' concerns, such as fighting fascism abroad but facing racism at home. (08:13 - 09:23)
• White Press Perceptions:
  • Most Southern white editors regarded the Black press as advocacy-based and biased, refusing to acknowledge their own objectivity’s racial undertones. (10:27)
  • The Black press' professional legitimacy was denied, despite widespread covert reliance on its reporting. (10:55)

4. Exclusion of Black Voices in “Mainstream” Press

• Case Study: Charles S. Johnson

  • Charles S. Johnson, a leading Black sociologist and university president, and Claude Barnett of the Associated Negro Press designed a free column for white newspapers by Johnson—a recognized expert on race. Almost no papers accepted it, illustrating the exclusion of Black voices from national dialogue. (14:09 - 17:43)

    "No newspaper... would touch this concept in the 1940s. What this ended up doing was preserving the white daily press’s opinion pages as a space that was controlled exclusively by white editors for white voices."
    —Gwyneth Mellinger (17:07)

5. Influential Journalists and Thought Leaders

• Westbrook Pegler:
  • Northern conservative columnist with a vast readership. Contrary to expectations, he became a key ally for Southern segregationists, attacking the Black press as unpatriotic and undermining its legitimacy to white audiences. (18:03)
• Virginius Dabney & P.B. Young, Sr.:
  • Dabney (white editor, Richmond) and Young (Black editor, Norfolk) lived parallel lives shaping their communities’ narratives, but without professional parity or true dialogue. (18:08 - 20:49)

6. Surprising Research Discoveries

• Hypocrisy in Private Correspondence:
  • Many white journalists who would not publicly espouse racist views were complicit in upholding Jim Crow through the manipulation of journalism standards and private correspondence. (20:57)
• Blind Spots:

  • Even Northern journalists, though sometimes appalled, gave credence to these claims under the guise of upholding “journalism standards.” (21:19)

    "Many of the white journalists and editors who supported Jim Crow saw themselves as noble, not as people with a racial agenda... they would certainly never have embraced the idea that they had any kind of a racial conflict of interest."
    —Gwyneth Mellinger (22:23)

7. Lessons & Takeaways

• Counter Narrative:

  • The book reframes events typically told from the white Southern perspective by elevating Black voices and innovations, such as the overlooked early prototypes for objective educational reporting by Black intellectuals.

  • Mellinger cautions against accepting mainstream histories at face value and underscores the necessity of examining standpoint and bias in history-writing and reporting. (23:02 - 25:44)

    "I hope that readers will see that we don't necessarily... not to take history at face value."
    —Gwyneth Mellinger (25:09)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On weaponized objectivity:

  "By claiming that the Black press and the liberal white press in the North were not objective, they were able to set those... apart from what they were doing and set themselves up as being more objective, more accurate, and also more noble."
  —Gwyneth Mellinger (05:28)

• On ideological language:

  "Sometimes those kinds of concepts... do a lot of ideological heavy lifting for other ideological agendas."
  —Gwyneth Mellinger (06:21)

• On investigative research:

  "Editors who would never... have used the N word would do so in what they perceive to be the privacy of their conversation through the mail."
  —Gwyneth Mellinger (07:56)

• On white press ignoring Black expertise:

  "No newspaper... would touch this concept in the 1940s. What this ended up doing was preserving the white daily press’s opinion pages as a space that was controlled exclusively by white editors for white voices."
  —Gwyneth Mellinger (17:07)

• On professional blind spots:

  "They gave [white Southerners] a hearing because [they] were claiming that the issue was really journalism standards and not Jim Crow."
  —Gwyneth Mellinger (21:19)

• On critical reading of history:

  "We don't necessarily... not to take history at face value... there will always be an opportunity for us to examine very critically standpoint—the standpoints of others who are writing and interpreting history."
  —Gwyneth Mellinger (25:09 – 25:44)

Important Timestamps

• 02:46 — Book overview and periodization
• 05:02 — How white southern editors claimed objectivity
• 06:21 — Ideological functions of “merit” and “patriotism”
• 07:56 — Racist language in private correspondence
• 08:13–09:23 — Emergence and evolution of the Black press
• 10:27–10:55 — White perception and dismissal of the Black press
• 14:09–17:43 — The exclusion of Black syndicated columns from mainstream white newspapers
• 18:03–20:49 — Influential journalists: Pegler, Dabney, and Young
• 20:57–22:56 — Surprising discoveries and complicity in upholding Jim Crow
• 23:02–25:44 — Mellinger’s hopes for readers and critical perspectives on history

Episode Takeaway

Mellinger’s work exposes how standards of “objectivity” in journalism were not neutral but actively deployed by the white Southern press as instruments of exclusion and resistance against civil rights. Her meticulous archival work reveals the complicity of both overt and subtle forms of institutional racism, emphasizing the necessity for journalists and historians to investigate beyond official narratives and interrogate the supposed neutrality of professional standards.

Listeners come away understanding the crucial importance of recognizing whose voices are silenced, how professional norms can perpetuate injustice, and why critical, standpoint-aware history remains vital to understanding both journalism and society.