How does The Root stand out from Huffington Post Black Voices, The Grio and other sites with a similar mission? “We try to differentiate ourselves in the quality of the writing and reporting and in taking perceived wisdom about race and racism and factors that affect the black community and challenging them,” said Lauren Williams, deputy editor. “One of the things that we are noted for is just having really smart content.”

Whether you’re looking to write a reported piece or a personal essay, The Root welcomes submissions from contributors — in fact, half of the site’s content is freelance-written. For pitching etiquette and editor’s contact info, read How To Pitch: The Root.

– Sherry Yuan

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After “many months” of development, Jossip founder David Haislaib has launched his fourth blog (Jossip, Queerty, Mollygood) in a seemingly tricky media vertical, that is, what he calls the “black-interest” one. It’s called Stereohyped. (Bossip was already taken.)

The tagline:

“Once you blog black, you never go back.”

With Barack Obama‘s 2008 run just about hitting full steam, the blog is certainly timely, though not perfectly timed, since the additional tweaking caused Stereohyped to miss the window on the Imus story.

Haislaib’s explanatory memo:

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.