The Diversity Problem

Baylee DeMuth
bd575016@ohio.edu

This topic particularly hits home for me, but I'll be honest. When I joined The Post my freshman year, I didn't really pay any attention to how diverse or not the newsroom was, but the more time I've spent in the newsroom, the more aware I've become of the problem.

Until fairly recently, I was the only Asian-American woman in the newsroom. Now there's two of us. Progress, right? I think I came into the newsroom not realizing how many writers were white because I grew up in a city predominately white. It was normal for me to be around peers who didn't look like me, but in a newsroom where part of its job is to be diverse and cover diverse topics? Unacceptable.

In a society where newsrooms remain largely white by most measures, it makes sense why some stories fall short when an article about a Latinx community is written by a white male, someone that has no ties to the Latinx community. It's a problem when the demographics of American newspapers look nothing like the demographics of the communities they cover, according to the article from The Guardian. It's no wonder why people are losing trust in the media, because they portray them in a way that does not fairly depict who they really are. The sad thing is, it's not only in national newsrooms, but local newsrooms as well. As much as I love being a part of The Post, I know it's not the most diverse newsroom it could be. The last three years my editors have faced the same burning question: "How do we create a more diverse newsroom without tokenizing individuals?" It's a question we always address, but addressing the problem is not enough.

Photo provided via buzzfeed.com

It's about time actual action took place in implementing diversity and inclusion in the newsroom, and while there's been some progress in diversifying the demographic, more work needs to be done. So how do we do that? Well, for starters, newsrooms can work on creating a more comfortable environment where people of all races and genders can feel welcome. If someone of color walks into a newsroom just full of white people, they're going to feel out of place, especially if those people don't pay that person any mind, disregarding their ideas and treating them like they're lesser. We also need to start having real conversations about the diversity problem and not fear damaging relationships with editors or colleagues like the Nieman Reports article states. People seem to be very uncomfortable with gender and racial issues, but it's that uncomfortability that is stopping so many newsrooms from utilizing people with skills to do the job and who deserve the opportunity.

I also believe more workshops, talks and diversity training can help people understand the topical issue of diversity in the newsroom and how to approach it. I'm sure there are some newsrooms that have never even considered creating a more diverse work environment, but that's the first step to actually doing something about it that benefits not only the newsroom, but the readers who are impacted by those stories.