Diversity in the Newsroom: Perspective is Everything

Audrianna Wilde

aw455919@ohio.edu

audrianna.wilde@gmail.com

    Journalism plays an important role in bringing issues to the public eye, sparking conversations that then stimulate action and change. It is the tool that keeps those in power in check and amplifies the voices of those that receive coverage. So what makes diversity in media so important?

    When the media lacks diversity, it also lacks perspective. According to a study by Pew Research Center, currently about three-quarters of newsroom employees are non-Hispanic white people, despite the fact that they make up about two-thirds of the U.S. workforce. In smaller newsrooms, the number of minorities is even less. 

    With a lack of diverse staffing comes a number of problems. Stereotypes are enhanced, biases are reinforced, important minority voices are excluded, and opportunities for great coverage and perspective are missed. Major media institutions hold the power to shape public knowledge and opinion. Without a diverse staff, the experiences and hardships that minorities face are forgotten and thrown to the wayside. Black people are called "looters" and often depicted as the face of poverty, while white people are "finders". Without a diverse staff, stories that are important to Black and other minority communities are overlooked or not seen as "newsworthy enough". 

    Newsrooms that lack diversity talk about the world as if the people listening are exclusively white - matching their own demographics. Minority voices play an important role in representing those who are often forgotten in the newsroom.

(Top) Photo by Associated Press photographer Dave Martin
(Bottom) Photo by Chris Graythen for Getty Images
Sourcehttps://twitter.com/AsteadWesley/status/902579880096915458

    In a world that is increasingly polarized and where issues of race are tense as systems of institutionalized inequality are spoken out against, the phrase "diversity and inclusion" has begun to rise in popularity. Companies, universities, small businesses, local governments, and more all seem to be implementing new trainings and initiatives for their staff to follow in an effort to create spaces that are open and accepting of all people. The question that these actions pose, however, is whether or not change is actually coming from this, especially in the field of journalism.

    While attempts at diversification have been made, goals have not been met. In 1978, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, otherwise known as the Kerner Commission, suggested to the American Society of News Editors that the news industry set a goal of minority employment that is equivalent to the percentage of minority people within the national population by the year 2000. Currently, racial and ethnic minorities make up about 40% of the U.S. population. The news industry is far behind its goal. 

    Unfortunately, hiring quotas such as these can be dehumanizing. They show that, if the pressure of hiring a diverse staff was not in place, Black and minority people would not find their way in that space organically. And the fact that, even with quotas set in place, newsrooms are still not representative of the general population is even more so.

    However, it is not just about meeting quotas, it is also about those who are making the decisions in a newsroom. If there are no Black or minority people leading a newsroom, the importance of diversity is seemingly lost. Minorities are not hired, and their stories aren't shared.

    The issue at hand is large and deeply rooted within the culture of the journalism world, and is something worth confronting, not only for the sake of minority journalists but for the sake of minority stories and voices that are in need of amplification. Perspective, in the journalism world, is everything.