Q+A: Andrea González-Ramírez, News + Politics Writer for Refinery29

Interviewed by Allegra Hobbs

Study Hall: Refinery29 has been in the spotlight this week because, in simple terms, it got something right that others missed, and the New York Times was dismissive in its recognition of that fact. It identified R29 is an outlet for “women and millennials” without a national reach. R29 does, in fact, have a national reach, and the Times issued a correction after you called them out in a series of tweets.

That being said, can you talk about how R29 identified Ocasio-Cortez as a force to be reckoned with? And why you think other outlets missed it?

Andrea González-Ramírez: As we all know, this year we’re seeing an unprecedented number of women running for office. Part of what we do at Refinery29 is cover some of these races and candidates, but we’ve made an effort to highlight women of color in particular. The reason why is that they tend to face more challenges when they run: A lot of times they don’t have institutional support, they’re not perceived as viable, they deal with both comments on their gender and their race or ethnicity, they’re overall less represented in politics to start off, etc. That translates into less media coverage too, so we’re trying to help fix that.

We heard about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a while ago and she immediately caught our attention. Here you had a 28-year-old Latina who was until very recently working part-time as a waitress to make ends meet, and she was challenging one of the most powerful House Democrats from the left.

Her candidacy encapsulated a lot of the questions we’re seeing within the Democratic party, plus she could potentially be the youngest congresswoman ever elected. Long story short, her congressional bid had “R29 story” written all over it. I think local New York City outlets and folks like us, The Intercept, Mic, and others were on the story. But several legacy outlets overlooked her candidacy and there are some reasons for that.

First, there was the issue of the race itself. Historically, more than 90% of incumbents win. Then you have Rep. Joe Crowley, a household name both in Congress and in New York City politics who was outraising Alexandria and had the backing of tons of establishment Democrats. It was quite literally a David vs. Goliath situation, and since similar primary challengers have not been successful this year, it was easy to think Alexandria didn’t stand a chance. In a news cycle that’s so devoted to President Trump and his administration, being smart and efficient about what type of stories you assign to your reporters is key for many newsrooms. I understand why some outlets chose to skip covering Alexandria. That being said, we’ve also seen a ton of profiles of neo-Nazis and even pedophiles running for office this election season — so the resources are there.

Which leads me to the next point: If these newsrooms were a bit more diverse, they would have had people who would have flagged Alexandria as someone outlets should keep an eye on. A young woman of color who’s a reporter with a prominent news outlet told me she tried to pitch something about Alexandria and her majority white coworkers told her it was not a story. Said outlet was one of the many scrambling on election night because they didn’t have anything on her. If they had actually listened to what this reporter who is in tune with the Latinx and immigrant community had to say, that wouldn’t have happened.

Diversity is not only a politically correct catchphrase. Hiring folks from all types of experiences — with different gender identities and sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, races and ethnicities, religions, political inclinations and so on — will make your coverage stronger. As I said in my Twitter thread, people with a pulse on Alexandria’s district knew something was brewing. Maybe the Times, which I truly love and respect, and other outlets will keep that in mind and pay attention to other interesting candidates this election season.

SH: What can a publication like the Times learn from R29 and the other outlets that saw the movement behind Ocasio-Cortez for what it was?

AG: Politics have deeply changed in the last few years. I think we all know we shouldn’t be following the same narratives that we’ve followed in the past — it didn’t work in the 2016 presidential election and it won’t work this year either.

And since this is the so-called “Year of the Woman,” we shouldn’t be underestimating the power women candidates of all backgrounds have this election season. We need to stop thinking we automatically know the outcome of a race and instead we should really try to find out what these communities are thinking.

SH: I’m curious about that dismissiveness shown by the Times, how often you confront that in your work, and where you think it comes from. Obviously R29 covers a wide breadth of issues, including politics and tech, but it also covers things like fashion and beauty that are still unfortunately perceived as frivolous by some. Do you think this colors how some people receive your news and politics coverage?

AG: Definitely. Under the News & Politics section we get our fair share of “stick to makeup” comments. And that translates to real life, too. For example, I’ve been in the situation where PR people are hiding their clients from so-called “serious” publications while they’re happy to let me interview them because I’m from Refinery29. It’s obviously good for me, but at the same time it feels as if they’re not respecting me as a journalist. There’s also this moment of a condescending “Ohhhh!” that happens when you’re in a certain spaces and say you’re with R29 — for example, when we covered the DNC and RNC in 2016 people kept acting shocked we were even there.

The way that the work our team does gets written off as “not real journalism” and that women’s media is not “serious” is one of my biggest pet peeves. That notion is rooted in the idea that women are not tri-dimensional beings who can care about several things at the same time. It’s a sexist approach — one that has no place in 2018 because our audiences deserve better than that.

My colleague Olivia Harrison summarized our work and the work of other women’s media outlets perfectly: “A few months ago I didn’t know what highlighter was. Now thanks to Refinery29 it’s my favorite kind of makeup. A few months ago I didn’t know who Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now thanks to Refinery29 I am voraciously following her political career. Get you a site that can do both.”

SH: Can you talk about how Refinery29 combats the unfortunate idea that “women’s” issues, or publications geared towards young women, are somehow unserious (as was reflected in the Times’ coverage)? How do you feel media can more effectively combat this idea?

AG: To be honest, I don’t know whether we’ll be able to change things as long as media keeps being dominated by men at the top of the chain. Maybe if we start putting more women and non-binary folks in leadership positions that will help shake things up.

Maybe then we can also dismantle the idea of “women’s issues.” Jobs, immigration, foreign policy, affordable healthcare  — all these issues impact women as much as sexism in the workplace, the cost of childcare and access to reproductive health services. Our publications are covering a lot of these topics while also covering the latest in beauty, fashion, health and entertainment. We’re doing that because we can and we should.

SH: Do you see this perception changing? Besides Refinery29, what publications do you see moving the needle on this?

AG: Yes, slowly. And I think that’s because women are at the center of many of the stories of this era, such as the #MeToo movement, activism and the midterm election. Therefore, publications geared towards women are leading a lot of these conversations.

A fair share of us are helping move the needle. You obviously have the folks at Teen Vogue; you have Glamour, which recently got some kickass new hires for their political team; you have the Jezebel team, which despite all the challenges has been killing it for years; and so on. It makes me very proud to be part of the women’s media space.

SH: When it comes to covering news and politics, there is obviously a lot of subject matter available. How do you make decisions about what to cover, and from what angle, in a way that best serves your readers?

AG: There’s two things we always keep in mind: We aren’t a breaking news organization and we want our stories to make women see, feel and claim their power. That’s our whole thing. It’s better for our audience if we spend time crafting a second-day angle or a longer feature on a specific topic than trying to rush to write about something that’s breaking and that they will probably read in other places such as the Times.

We also have identified beats that are in line with Refinery29’s values — such as reproductive justice and gender equality, for example — so we really try to own stories related to those issues.

It’s tricky with how crazy the news cycle is these days, but I think we’ve found a formula that works for our small but mighty News & Politics team.

SH: What advice would you give writers looking for fresh angles on national, sometimes widely-covered stories?

AG: Think of what you’re curious about that hasn’t been covered yet. Or identify a specific part of a big story and dig deeper. For example, President Trump’s proposed budget was a widely-covered story earlier this year. At R29 we picked just one small part of the document — the allocation of $75 million so the Health and Human Services Department could fund abstinence-only sex-education programs — and wrote about how those programs can impact teenagers. Or take the ongoing reporting of family separation at the border. One of our first stories about the topic was a guide on how to help these families. It was a simple service angle, but it was useful for our audience because they were really hungry for that information.

It takes a lot of practice to think outside the box, but it’s worth it.

SH: Finally, what do you look for in a story?

AG: The most important part for me is the human element. I’m not really interested in the palace intrigue or in propping up people who are already powerful. I would rather elevate the voices of those we often don’t hear from and explore how the personal is political.

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