FunTimes salutes and congratulates two African American women journalists making big moves.

Jun 03, 2022 09:38AM ● By Karen Warrington

Vanessa Williams is the newly named deputy National political editor at the Washington Post and Sarah Glover, will be Vice President for News and Civic Dialogue at WHYY. Both of these outstanding journalists have strong Philadelphia connections and both served as Presidents of the Philadelphia and National Association of Black Journalists.

Press Release | The Washington Post
Announcement from National Editor Matea Gold, Deputy National Editor Philip Rucker and Senior Politics Editor Dan Eggen:

We are delighted to announce that Vanessa Williams will become a deputy National politics editor, steering coverage of voters and a changing American electorate.

In this position, Vanessa will bring her keen instincts for untold stories to shape compelling and distinctive pieces about the shifting political terrain heading into this year’s midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election. She will help reporters execute illuminating coverage about what animates disparate groups of voters and how they decide which candidates reflect their values. She will also assist in our broader campaign and political report and work in close collaboration with the newly formed Democracy team, helping shape coverage of what Americans experience at the polls.

Vanessa brings to this role her extensive experience covering race and politics, as well as a longstanding commitment to elevating the voices of disenfranchised Americans. As a reporter on the America team for the last five years, she wrote about the disproportionate rate of covid-19 infections and deaths among Black people, how Black voter participation affected the 2020 election and efforts to pass federal voting legislation. She has extensively chronicled the political activities of Black women, including the 2018 campaign of Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and captured the excitement about the first Black female Supreme Court justice.

Since January 2018, she has helped write and edit the twice-weekly newsletter, About US, which features reporting, analysis and perspective about how individuals and institutions navigate the debate about race, gender, sexual orientation and other identity issues. In that role, she helped to conceive and edit projects that explored diversity within the country’s growing Latino community and showed how Native Americans are making their presence felt and voices heard throughout society.

Vanessa joined The Post in 1996 to cover Washington, D.C.’s city government. She became an assistant city editor in 2000, worked on the now-defunct continuous news desk, and has edited on both the Local and National desks.

Before The Post, she spent 12 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, covering local government and politics, and helped to uncover an absentee ballot fraud scheme that resulted in a state Senate election being overturned. She started her journalism career at her hometown newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times.

Vanessa is a former president and board member of the National Association of Black Journalists and has served as a mentor to countless young journalists in the Post newsroom and throughout the industry. In her spare time, she likes to travel and bake sweets.

Please join us in congratulating Vanessa on her new role, which starts immediately.

Sarah Glover, a nationally recognized leader in news and social media strategy with 24 years of progressive experience as a news executive, has been named Vice President for News and Civic Dialogue at WHYY. Glover, currently managing editor for Minnesota Public Radio’s MPR News, will join the Philadelphia region’s leading public media organization July 25.

Glover, who has been responsible for a staff of 40 on reporting, editing and digital teams, will assume the leadership of one of Philadelphia’s largest newsrooms. Her duties at WHYY will encompass news and information content presented on all the organization’s media platforms: FM 90.9, TV12, WHYY.org, Billy Penn and other online channels. She will also continue WHYY’s strong civic engagement and community discussion programming and provide oversight and support for signature public affairs programs including Radio Times and The Pulse.

Glover is no stranger to the Philadelphia market, having served 16 years as a staff photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News as well as the social media editor for NBC10.

“Sarah Glover’s experience spans every aspect of contemporary news coverage, including broadcast and digital reporting, multimedia content and photojournalism,” said WHYY President and CEO Bill Marrazzo. “She also pairs this experience with an in-depth understanding of the importance of marketing and revenue generation that is necessary for success in today’s media marketplace. We look forward to her contributions to WHYY’s efforts to grow the reach and diversity of our audience to better serve all of the Philadelphia region.”

Glover was a 2021 Nieman Visiting Fellow at Harvard. She previously served as manager of social media strategy for the NBC’s 12 locally owned television stations and provided support to more than 35 Telemundo stations while based at “30 Rock” in New York City.

She served two terms as president of the National Association of Black Journalists, increasing training programs and stabilizing the finances of the 4,400-member group.

Glover earned her B.A. in photojournalism and African American Studies from Syracuse University and the M.A. in arts and communication studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She is completing an M.B.A. at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

WHYY-FM is the most-listened to radio station in Philadelphia in morning “drive time” (6-10 a.m.) and in the top five overall, with additional consumers on WHYY.org and the WHYY app. WHYY has continued throughout the pandemic to expand news, information and education services to consumers in the Philadelphia region.

Karen Warrington has had a decades long career as a broadcast journalist, communications professional, performing artist, and documentary filmmaker. She has traveled extensively throughout Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. She is committed to being a voice for the African Diaspora.