Koa Beck

Koa Beck is the former editor-in-chief of Jezebel and the co-host of “The #MeToo Memos” on WNYC’s The Takeaway. She was previously the executive editor of Vogue.com and senior features editor at MarieClaire.com. Her literary criticism and reporting on gender, LGBTQ rights, culture, and race have appeared in a wide variety of print and online outlets. Her fiction writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and she serves on the board of directors of Nat.Brut, an art and literary magazine. While at the Shorenstein Center, Beck wrote a paper on “How Women’s Media Operates as a Vehicle for White Feminism.”

Koa Beck

Beyond White Feminism: Not ‘Healing’ the US Back to an Anti-Feminist Future

January 29, 2021

In the wake of the 2020 Presidential Election and the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a growing narrative about “healing” the country and “getting back to normal.” For women and other marginalized genders, specifically, going “back to normal” means exploitative labor, poor wages, and lack of paid and/or subsidized parental leave and childcare among other issues. These

Self-Optimization in the Face of Patriarchy: How Mainstream Women’s Media Facilitates White Feminism

January 5, 2021

The capitalistic, corporate, individualistic narratives of fourth-wave and white feminism are communicated and reinforced by mainstream women’s media. Koa Beck is the former Editor-in-Chief of Jezebel.com, and was a Joan Shorenstein Fellow in Spring 2019. This paper informed and became part of her new book “White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind.”

A Landscape Study of Local News Models Across America

July 3, 2019

Local journalism is in crisis, off and online. Years of downsizing in the face of digital disruption have weakened regional and local news organizations. But there are a few glimpses of hope in models for local news across the country. This landscape study includes over 40 mini case studies on outlets that are making the shift, starting fresh, or experimenting with new ways to survive and thrive.

Small is Beautiful

June 3, 2019

The decline of the legacy media started long before the Internet, but the Internet exposed a business model that relied too heavily on the wrong customers. This paper argues that subscription might be the only viable business model for digital media in the long run, but a small circulation might be large enough to make news outlets sustainable. Small is beautiful.

Me Too and the Media panel

#MeToo and the Media

April 10, 2018

A panel discussion featuring Koa Beck, editor-in-chief of Jezebel; Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate; Zerlina Maxwell, senior director of Progressive Programming for SiriusXM; Gabriel Sherman, special correspondent for Vanity Fair; and Genevieve Roth, Shorenstein Fellow (moderator). Cosponsored by the Women and Public Policy Program and Harvard IOP. Watch the video: Read coverage of the event in The Harvard Gazette. Koa Beck is the editor-in-chief of Jezebel and

Koa Beck

Beyond White Feminism: Not ‘Healing’ the US Back to an Anti-Feminist Future

January 29, 2021

In the wake of the 2020 Presidential Election and the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a growing narrative about “healing” the country and “getting back to normal.” For women and other marginalized genders, specifically, going “back to normal” means exploitative labor, poor wages, and lack of paid and/or subsidized parental leave and childcare among other issues. These

Self-Optimization in the Face of Patriarchy: How Mainstream Women’s Media Facilitates White Feminism

January 5, 2021

The capitalistic, corporate, individualistic narratives of fourth-wave and white feminism are communicated and reinforced by mainstream women’s media. Koa Beck is the former Editor-in-Chief of Jezebel.com, and was a Joan Shorenstein Fellow in Spring 2019. This paper informed and became part of her new book “White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind.”

A Landscape Study of Local News Models Across America

July 3, 2019

Local journalism is in crisis, off and online. Years of downsizing in the face of digital disruption have weakened regional and local news organizations. But there are a few glimpses of hope in models for local news across the country. This landscape study includes over 40 mini case studies on outlets that are making the shift, starting fresh, or experimenting with new ways to survive and thrive.

Small is Beautiful

June 3, 2019

The decline of the legacy media started long before the Internet, but the Internet exposed a business model that relied too heavily on the wrong customers. This paper argues that subscription might be the only viable business model for digital media in the long run, but a small circulation might be large enough to make news outlets sustainable. Small is beautiful.

Me Too and the Media panel

#MeToo and the Media

April 10, 2018

A panel discussion featuring Koa Beck, editor-in-chief of Jezebel; Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate; Zerlina Maxwell, senior director of Progressive Programming for SiriusXM; Gabriel Sherman, special correspondent for Vanity Fair; and Genevieve Roth, Shorenstein Fellow (moderator). Cosponsored by the Women and Public Policy Program and Harvard IOP. Watch the video: Read coverage of the event in The Harvard Gazette. Koa Beck is the editor-in-chief of Jezebel and

The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center dedicated to exploring and illuminating the intersection of press, politics and public policy in theory and practice. The Center strives to bridge the gap between journalists and scholars, and between them and the public.

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