'We better create our own damn table': Why Francesca Donner left traditional media behind

When Francesca Donner tried to change how women's stories were told at the Wall Street Journal, she hit a familiar wall. "It was like a rubber band," she explains. "You can stretch it, but [the news] still comes back to being told through a male lens."

The frustration wasn't about a lack of women in the news - they were there. The problem was deeper: whose perspective was shaping these stories, and what was being deemed worthy of front-page coverage?

Donner's journey from traditional newsrooms to founding her own publication, The Persistent, reflects a broader struggle in journalism: how to break away from ingrained editorial traditions that have long determined what counts as important news.

The shoulder pad era that never ended

At the tail end of the noughties, Donner witnessed senior editor Carol Hymowitz's attempts to bring more women's stories to the fore, only to face massive pushback at the Journal. "Even if the 1980s were long gone, I felt like we were in this long-gone era with shoulder pads," Donner recalls.

The experience left her troubled about how women were - and weren't - being covered in mainstream media. Even after moving to The New York Times, the same patterns persisted.

Then came 2016 and Trump's election, followed by the #MeToo movement. These two events spurred many women's to become more vocal and organised, creating what Donner describes as "a much greater acceptance of being a woman" – and crucially, an understanding of women's diverse experiences across different identities: queer, older, menopausal, women of colour, young women, you name it.

The Times launched In Her Words to capture this moment, but it was shuttered after just a few years, leaving what Donner saw as a clear gap in the market.

The persistent problem

"It's not that newsrooms don't cover women," Donner explains, "but there's still an unwillingness to break with the tradition to decide what belongs on the front page - and that's not women."

This insight led to The Persistent, which Donner founded with a simple philosophy:

"If we can't have a seat at the table, we better create our own damn table."

The publication operates differently from traditional newsrooms. There are no beats - around 30 contributors write across all topics, selected for being excellent writers. She also works with cartoonists, expanding the ways stories can be told.

"There isn't a single topic in the world where there isn't a gender gap," she says, pointing to a recent piece about "fuck you funds" as an example of how financial coverage can be reframed through women's experiences.

The business of being heard

While The Persistent covers various perspectives, Donner is clear about her editorial boundaries. On reproductive rights, for instance: "Reproductive rights should exist and I don't feel the need to represent the other side."

It's this kind of editorial clarity that reflects the broader shift in media consumption. As the media landscape fragments, audiences increasingly want publications that speak to who they are and what they believe.

Donner acknowledges the double-edged nature of this trend: "It's good and bad. It gives people community and a sense of belonging, but it's bad if your reading list becomes an echo chamber."

At just over a year old, The Persistent faces the same challenge that plagues much of independent journalism: getting people to pay for quality content.

Donner made a deliberate choice to run it as a for-profit venture. "So many women's things are nonprofit," she notes. "People throw money at anything but journalism subscriptions."

The reality is stark: "There's no such thing as quick stories. People just don't realise how much work goes into a story, how much it costs."

With an audience of around 15,000 – over 90 per cent women and college-educated – The Persistent is exploring partnerships and branded content opportunities. It's a pragmatic approach that Donner frames as a triple win: money for the publication, value for advertisers, and benefits for readers.

The long game

The Persistent represents more than just another media startup - it's part of a larger reckoning with whose voices get heard and whose stories get told. Donner's experience shows how even well-intentioned efforts to change traditional newsrooms can snap back like that rubber band.

Sometimes, the solution isn't stretching the existing system further. Sometimes, it's about building something entirely new.

For Donner, constantly on the lookout for new voices and fresh perspectives, The Persistent isn't just filling a gap in the market - it's proving that there was always an audience hungry for stories told differently. The challenge now is making that audience sustainable enough to keep the table she's built from being folded away.

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