On Monday, October 7, Elinor Tatum was surprised with the news that she was chosen to be Editor and Publisher Magazine’s (E&P) 2024 Publisher of the Year. Greeted by friends, colleagues, and E&P’s Editor-in-Chief Robin Blinder via Zoom, Publisher Tatum was emotionally overwhelmed when she saw a photo of herself with a caption reading “Publisher of the Year.”
“I knew Siobhan [Bennett] had put my name up for it, but I didn’t think it would go much farther than that,” Tatum said of her initial shock in learning she’d won the award. She was also stunned to see 30 people on the mentioned Zoom call to celebrate the announcement.
Editor & Publisher noted that “Today, [the] Amsterdam News has one of the fastest growing and largest digital readerships of any legacy Black newspaper. Their journalism excellence has garnered them more than 30 journalism and industry awards in the past three years. At a time when many outlets are experiencing layoffs and cutbacks, Tatum has added two editors, four journalists and countless interns to its newsroom.”
The list of individuals on the call included AmNews freelance writers, full-time reporters and editors, and Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, AmNews’ president and chief revenue officer, who is proud to see her friend have her accomplishments acknowledged in this manner.
Bennett has worked alongside Tatum since 2021, but they have been friends for a decade prior to her joining the newspaper’s leadership.
“Having run organizations for over four decades, I was deeply honored to join the Amsterdam News to work with Publisher Tatum on our highly successful digital, revenue, and editorial transformation. My deep respect for her has only grown over that time. She is the rarest of leaders — one who empowers others,” Bennett said.
President Bennett also acknowledged an important milestone: Tatum is the first Black woman to be given this award.
“This award is richly deserved and especially powerful given Publisher Tatum [is] the first Black woman publisher to be honored in the 125 years of this award,” she said.
Tatum was well aware of this history and made clear there should have been others before her. “But the fact that I am the first means that I’ve now opened,” Tatum said.
Denise Barnes, publisher of the Washington Informer, congratulated Publisher Tatum on the announcement in a statement to AmNews.
“I am sure that never in the minds of the founders of the Amsterdam News that their hard work and dedication invested in the weekly publication would end up in the hands of a young woman over 100 years later. Yet, here we are today celebrating Elinor Tatum, whose leadership is not only responsible for reviving the 115-year-old newspaper, but she has [also] led the evolution of the Amsterdam News into a thriving digital multimedia company. There are many women, like Elinor, who are publishing Black-owned newspapers across the country but I can proudly say, she is our shining star. Congratulations, Elinor, and to the entire Amsterdam News team. I wish you continued success,” Barnes said.
At 53, Tatum is still determined to continue the revitalization of the AmNews as well as the reinvigoration of journalism in general. She emphasized the importance of finding the humanity in the people journalists interview and recognizing that interviewees are more than just what they can bring to a story. “You’ve got to get to know people. You can’t just get a quote and move on,” she said.Publisher of the Year is the latest in a succession of honors that the AmNews staff have received under Publisher Tatum’s tenure including awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, the Deadline Club and the Solutions Journalism Network in 2024 alone.