Journalism and Diversity

By: Weiler Harmon
Email: wh675216@ohio.edu

In today's society, diversity is becoming more commonplace than ever. The United States Census predicts that by 2045 the country will become 'minority white' for the first time. With this cultural shift, it is imperative that journalism as a whole reflects today's environment. Not only should newsrooms endorse a diverse workplace, they should also publish a diverse range of stories for their readers and/or viewers.

With more workplaces adopting a diverse fleet, newsrooms and publications should be no different. Now more than ever before, the media is being abandoned by the public. This could be a result of the American people not seeing themselves on TV or in the news. A majority of broadcasters are still synonymously looking talking heads. According to the ACNE, or America's Society of News Editors,  only about 22.6 percent of the workforce in U.S. newsrooms were people of color.

Although the media is slowly becoming more diverse, it has not kept up with our current population. It is hard for people to be engaged with news, let alone believe it is unbiased, when they see the same person, race or gender on every broadcast. Having different groups represented within a newsroom increases the exposure to a new audience that can relate to certain broadcasters from certain backgrounds. When people can relate to the news, they instantly become more likely to consume other news that the publication releases/broadcasts.

A diverse workplace also presents other advantages in the media. With each diverse employee, more perspectives are present at meetings and other functions. A diverse environment also gives publications the opportunity to hear new takes on stories in progress, ethical issues and story pitches that otherwise would not have been pitched. 

This leads me to the second reason diversity is important in journalism. Not only do journalists need to have diverse co-workers, but they need to produce diverse stories. Having a diverse workforce definitely helps with this; however, publications can still produce a wide range of stories while lacking a varied team of journalists.

Much like seeing broadcasters they can relate to, consumers of media react well to stories they can relate to as well. Especially in today's overwhelming media bonfire, it is easier to attract a wider range of readers/viewers instead of focusing on a specific target audience. Specifically with local publications, publishing random stories for everyone in their radius to enjoy can prove to be very beneficial. 

The Common says, "Public media have many ways to include new voices and reach underserved audiences as demographic and technological changes reshape the field." Unfortunately, a majority of publications have not been taking full advantage of including these new voices therefore inhibiting them from reaching a new audience.

Although a diverse audience is more accessible nowadays, it still takes effort for a publication to reach these audiences. Journalists need to ask tough questions and report on stories that others would not usually find out about. Doing this will prove to the American people that journalists are in fact on their side and want to help bring truth and news to as many people as they can. 

A diverse population does not mean a diverse mindset or worldview. In order to promote a more open-minded society, journalists need to cover a wide variety of topics.

(Photo courtesy of AXIOS)