Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy recently spoke at Goldman Sachs about First Amendment issues, the #MeToo movement, diversity in the news business and much more.
In a program titled, "The Pulitzer Prizes and the Art of Storytelling," part of the bank's Talks at GS series, she spoke about her Pulitzer-winning work at The New York Times:
"What I learned through that series is that like religion and sex, race is one of the most difficult things for people to discuss, and for people to discuss honestly," Canedy said. "It's a very difficult thing to talk about, and certainly even harder to report on."
"We just have to hope that over a lifetime that we get better, and every generation gets better. And I think that is true," she continued. "I look at some of the things that have been positive, like the fact that I'm the first person of color to run the Pulitzer Prizes, and so there is progress. But we have a long way to go, and everybody has to help."
She went on to discuss diversity within newsrooms themselves, saying significant progress was made in the 1980s, as more people recognized that, "different perspectives, different voices are critical to storytelling." As newspapers face economic challenges, Canedy noted they are putting diversity on the back burner — and detailed why that's problematic for the business.
Regarding her own passion for the written word, Canedy said, "Writing for me is like painting or playing the piano. That's how it feels when I write. It's not always easy to write something that you hope will move and inform people, but for me it's a calling and a way of life."