Huffington Post editor wants to publish fewer 'white authors'

White writers need not send their submissions to the Huffington Post.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Chloe Angyal, the popular site’s deputy opinion editor, said one of her goals this month was to ensure less than 50 percent of content was published by “white authors.”

 

Our goals for this month were: less than 50% white authors (check!), Asian representation that matches or exceeds the US population (check!), more trans and non-binary authors (check, but I want to do better).

— Chloe Angyal (@ChloeAngyal) March 14, 2018

 

Ms. Angyal said she keeps close tabs on the races and genders of contributors to the opinion page and would like to publish more transgender and Hispanic authors.

 

I check our numbers at the end of every week, because it’s easy to lose track or imagine you’re doing better than you really are, and the numbers don’t lie.

— Chloe Angyal (@ChloeAngyal) March 14, 2018

This month, she said 63 percent of the opinion page’s content was written by women, including transwomen, and 53 percent by writers of color.

 

Month two of @HuffPost Opinion is almost done. This month we published: 63% women, inc. trans women; 53% writers of colour.

— Chloe Angyal (@ChloeAngyal) March 14, 2018

 

Social media users wondered why an author’s race or gender are relevant.

 

They must be so thrilled to be included, knowing they were chosen for their identities, not the quality of their work. Not patronizing at all…

— Sarah (@muh_handle) March 14, 2018

 

So content is not a check, who cares if what they write is any good do they check your race and gender boxes?

— Corey Fredde (@CoreyFredde) March 14, 2018

 

Wow. I bet you guys are feeling really good about yourselves.

— Mike Brown (@mb2982) March 14, 2018

 

I didn’t see the words “excellent, meaningful content that people want to read” anywhere in this list.

— Hoppah (@glashoppah) March 14, 2018

 

Your goal was less white authors .. pic.twitter.com/rmGYsJhdVl

— Dev L (@dev59_svla) March 14, 2018

 

So… racist and sexist? I’m not understanding why the content of their material isn’t the concern.

— JS (@accentedreality) March 14, 2018

 

I could not care less who wrote an article, I just want a well-written, unbiased, cohesive article and I’d rather be hired based off quality

— Amanda (@ShamaHama214) March 14, 2018