Diversity in our News

Maddy Doyle 

madisonkdoyle@gmail.com

Diversity is simply an expected ethic and value that newsrooms everywhere should be including. This should absolutely not even be a question. When there is diversity in the news, in the broad scheme, it could positively impact the news source. 

We sadly live in a world where everyone seems to want to better themselves so ultimately you would think that news sources would do this for their own good. When a news source is diverse, more people are going to want to use that source and refer to it. Ideally, this is how the world should work but we are finding the opposite. 

Picture source: http://mediashift.org/2015/08/diversity-in-the-newsroom-isnt-just-a-numbers-game-its-about-changing-the-culture/

After reading an article that was put out by the American Press Institute, some great points were made but I think that the best take away was, "a public information ecosystem ... fairly represents, includes and aids varied viewpoints in a community." This point drives it home. There should be an obligation to people everywhere to give them helpful information to living their life. It shouldn't matter the color of their skin. Another great point was made, the Diversity and Inclusivity article stated how news outlets that will thrive are ones who can understand how important it is to include information that will best serve every community as a whole. 

Looking further into the root of this problem -- it begins with the people that are reporting and covering stories. In the newsroom today, minorities only make up 17% of the people. I would consider this to be an embarrassment to each and every new source. This is where the change needs to start. If there are more minorities working in the newsrooms they will want to cover stories based on minorities. In my opinion, this is where we need to start. There needs to be more encouragement for minorities to work at different places. 

Overall, including diversity in all content we produce, will allow us to become more educated humans. At the end of the day it truly is not what color your skin is, it is the human decency that you have. This is what needs to be remembered, especially right now more than ever.