Journalism has long been seen as a "monoculture." This means that there has been one primary group that controls everything that happens within the industry from reporting down to hiring. Over the years, it's been a goal of several newsrooms to expand their horizons and seek new perspectives. Companies have done so by implementing new diversity-based internships and through reporting in different markets. However, there is still a lack of inclusion in journalist reporting.
The American Society of Newspaper Editors implemented a mandate for more diverse newsrooms and coverage in 1978. Their goal was to achieve racial equality by the year 2000 and they would aid in doing so by releasing their survey results. The ASNE has found through their survey that while diversity in journalism has increased over three decades but it still does not reflect the numbers of the U.S. population.
The group's efforts do not stop there though. ASNE created the Minority Leadership Institute, now known as the ASNE Emerging Leaders Institute, to provide necessary training to leaders of news organizations.
So, where is the lack of diverse reporting coming from?
It starts with the lack of gender diversity in newsrooms. A 2018 analysis from the Pew Research Center found that over half of newsroom employees are male. Furthermore, it states that newsroom employees are more than likely to be male compared to a traditional worker.
The male group is also predominantly Non-Hispanic White. Pew also found that 48% of newsroom employees are Non-Hispanic White and male in their analysis of the 2012-2016 U.S. Census Bureau.
A lack of voices in a newsroom can cause an issue in the diversity of reporting. Issues ranging from political beliefs to gender to race are often left behind when news companies fall into a "monoculture."
So, how long has content been hurt by lack of diversity?
Before the ASNE's mandate was the Civil Rights Movement. During that time, African Americans in the North used newspapers to publish content featuring debates, meeting notes and general information. It was the African Americans' goal to use the papers as a way to spread the civil movement to the South, however, White editors refused and threatened anyone who dared to distribute these papers in the South. It was a two-way street as White editors bribed Black editors not to communicate the injustices in the South to their counterparts in the North.
The story remained the same, if not changed when television reporting began in America. Black people in the North were denied the ability to use television to develop the Civil Rights Movement in the South and nationally. However, in the South, there were shots of empty buses shown across several stations during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It demonstrated how not all biases that laid across the African American community were true.
Southern television was able to add a new point of view for its viewers after reporting on the peaceful protesting of the boycotters. It made for an unseen diversity in reporting and helped spark the idea for the ASNE's surveys to ensure that companies continue to seek diversity in their newsrooms and their reporting.
Journalism has a long history of lacking diversity, but it is working to change that — slowly, but surely.
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