Embracing Diversity in Journalism

John Bender

jb097918@ohio.edu

    It would be an understatement to say it is a turbulent time to work in the field of journalism currently. Between political strife, a global pandemic and racial issues being at the forefront of the modern zeitgeist the practices of journalists both in their writing and within the news room needs updating to reflect the stories being reported on. 

    According to an article by the Columbia Journalism Review, "Despite being in majority-minority cities, the newsrooms of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, for instance, are both 81 percent white".  The urban areas of the United States are melting pots with a variety of different races, cultures, and beliefs all coexisting and the news being distributed should represent equal levels of diversity in order fairly represent the many groups consuming news.

    The CJR article highlights an additional issue hurting newsroom diversity stating, "The main entry points into the profession—unpaid internships and journalism schools—tend to favor people who come from wealthy backgrounds". In order to combat lack of diversity it is imperative that the structural issues perpetuating the caucasian-dominated culture throughout major publications. Furthermore there is a culture of gatekeeping within journalism based on experience. Since connected or wealthy people are much more likely to get opportunities than their more diverse counterparts it creates a system that propagates very similar groups to consistently come into major publications. While experience is crucial to succeeding in the professional journalism, what is considered experience should not be limited to who someone knows or what internship they happen to get due to connections or a more expensive program.

Image via cjr.org 

    A possible solution for the diversity issues would be an update in leadership. If more positions of power were held by people with diverse backgrounds it would help to make the field to be more attractive to aspiring diverse reporters. More diverse figures could also lead to more fair in the truth of news since more subjects could be covered making groups that feel ignored by mainstream media to instead feel represented. Additional solutions could also include implementing programs and training specifically from diverse or unique backgrounds in order to help integrate them into major publication groups or networks.

    

    The site ONA ethics highlights the benefits to creating a more diverse newsroom writing, "newsrooms have found that diversifying their staffs and leadership results in more diversity in story ideas, approaches to stories, sources, and people depicted in visual content". By embracing diversity in the newsroom it creates a vibrant and professional lucrative environment since new perspectives give opportunities look at sources and stories in a unique light.