Diversity Matters

Abby Kongos | ak136116@ohio.edu

Newsrooms and the stories that the journalists cover need to accurately reflect the diversity in our country. The media is an influential way of highlighting the stories of all people, but there has been a lack of African American representation. But it’s not just who and what journalists cover, it’s how we report. There are stories of African Americans that need to be covered in the same respect as all news. Even still today, there is far too much racial disparity within reporting. Journalists are and should be responsible for telling stories with equal representation. But why is that so important?

Washington Post

Not only is race crucial to the quality of journalism, but to the representation of the black community. The issue is that there is a need for multiple race beat reporters, not just one or a few. In the Spring of 2011, a study from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism showed that 73 percent of broadcast stories featuring black men were about sports or crime. 

An influential way to go about gaining coverage is to promote specialty beat reporters. These reporters would share the same responsibility as any journalist: to write accurately and ethically. They would need to identify credible sources and do their research on historic and systematic influences.

Covering high-profile stories about African American individuals shouldn't be an isolated, special project that is highlighted only to earn a news organization praise- it should be a continuous effort that emulates inclusiveness. In an article by Susan Smith Richardson, she points out, "If we are honest with ourselves, we know that race won’t get covered regularly if newsroom leaders don’t demand it, don’t support it, and don’t reward it. And the truth is, most of them don’t.”

The lack of education of the culture, lives, successes, and journeys of African Americans is a result of the poor amount of coverage. The coverage that does and has existed is often negatively polarized and reinforces stereotypes. But there is so much more to be said about every African American that isn't being captured or represented as it should be. "What’s the black story?" she asks. “There are several. There’s an economic story, an education story. There’s a youth and young women and young men story,” Shani O Hilton, executive editor for news at BuzzFeed said.

Overall, my hope for all of us as journalists is to do a better job of advocating for more diversity in our newsrooms and support stories that represent the black community's voice. Something that really stuck out to me in Susan Smith Richardson's article was the mention of NPR's The Race Card Project. This online platform invites six-worded thoughts and discussions on race and racism based on personal experiences. While this is an example of an informal way of sharing stories, there are publications, such as The Chicago Reporter, that investigate and report on stories involving race and gender. I think that both of these examples show how necessary and accessible the conversation about race is- in the media as well as an everyday sense. African Americans' stories are ones to be heard, and we have that responsibility to elevate them.