Racial Divides in the Newsroom

Mallory Laird
ml704211@ohio.edu

In this day in age, it is hard to believe that any type of discrimination still exists, especially in the newsroom. It is hard to understand why there is a decreasing number of minorities in the journalism world. As journalists, it is our main goal to make sure everyone's voice is heard equally. But how are journalists supposed to achieve that goal when not all voices are being represented?

The recession has played a huge role in the decreasing number of minorities in the newsroom. According to a recent article published by The Atlantic, layoffs have resulted in the cutting down of minority journalists. This is because journalists of color have the least seniority in the journalism world. Now the fact that colored journalists jobs are not as safe as caucasian people is a problem in itself. People of color do not hold as high up jobs in journalism. A shocking 90% of newsroom supervisors or managers were found to be white (The Atlantic, pg.1).

"News media is getting whiter as the country is getting browner." Journalists of color "feel their voice is not heard, their story ideas are not validated, and they don't see room for advancement”(The Atlantic, pg.1). This quote taken from the above news article is a glimpse into the corruption of the newsroom. As America is progressing forwards, becoming more diverse, the news room is moving backwards. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic etc. peoples want to see themselves represented in the news media. A Hispanic women would prefer to have a hispanic individual talking about say an Hispanic event going on in her community rather than a caucasian that may or may not know a lot about the culture.

How do we make this better?

In an article posted by Poytner, some journalists of color give advice:

1)”Don't sacrifice who you are for where you want to go” This is a very powerful message. Journalists should not feel like they have to hide their culture or their beliefs so they can be the next big anchor or broadcast star. If you get turned down from a job, keep trying. Don't feel like you have to hide who you are in return for a great opportunity.

2.This next piece of advice goes along with the first quote above. “If you want to (be a journalist) fairly, you have to stay true to who you are”. Don't do something, or not do something because of who you are. Be proud of who you are and where you come from.

Is there any positive from this?

http://nyblondes.com/2012/01/19/today-show-60th-anniversary-party/

It is hard to look around and find any positive in a situation such as this. So I said to myself “Look at the casts of different popular TV morning shows and examine the races of each cast”. So I got on my computer and searched for the most popular morning TV show and one of my favorites The Today Show. For as long as I can remember I have felt the Today Show has always had a variety of races on their main cast. From Matt Lauer, to Ann Curry to Al Roker and to Hoda Kotb, they seem to have a very diverse set of journalists. Which gives me hope that maybe it's because they are a big news station. So perhaps if this is a starting point, the minorities apart of smaller newsrooms and what not will begin to grow.