Izzy Keller
ik926119@ohio.edu
Source: The Tallahassee Democrat, tallahassee.com
Good, quality journalism is for everyone in a community; however, a newsroom that lacks diversity leads to gaps in news coverage and alienates their community. The injustice caused by a lack of newsroom diversity is often emulated in racial stereotypes being portrayed in the news, insensitive stories, and a lack of trust in the news in some communities.
The racial composition of newsrooms does not match the racial or gender composition of the United States or its workforce. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2018, 77% of newsroom employees were non-Hispanic white. The same article mentions a disproportionate number of men in newsrooms compared to women, with 61% of newsroom employees being male. Additionally, the article shows more young, non-Hispanic white people in newsrooms than in previous generations. These discouraging numbers show that diversity is an ongoing issue in journalism, current efforts to increase diversity in media are not working, and a lack of diversity will continue to impact news organizations and the communities they serve.
Above graph by The Pew Research Center shows a lack of racial diversity in media.
The lack, as mentioned above, of diversity in newsrooms is not a new issue but has historical roots. The Nieman Lab article "Race and the Newsroom: What Seven Research Studies Say" by Clark Merrifield discusses discrimination, a lack of diversity, and racism in the media industry from a historical and modern-day perspective. The article provides different academic articles discussing different aspects of journalism and media, including media ownership, storytelling, and editing, and how a lack of diversity impacts these areas.
One of the articles mentioned by the Nieman Lab, "When white reporters cover race: News media, objectivity and community (dis)trust" by Sue Robinson and Kathleen Bartzen Culver, I believe is an essential read for all white journalists. According to the Nieman Lab summary and article's abstract, the article discusses how white journalists cover different communities and what we can do better. The summary mentions that Black community members want to see white journalists be more involved and active in the community, not just show up when something goes wrong. This solution will not fix distrust in the media, but it is a good start.
Diversity is needed to produce truly impactful and solid journalism. Without diversity--whether it be of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, or so on-- in newspapers, magazines, podcasts, news segments, and any other journalistic forum, there is a missed opportunity to do our jobs as journalists well. There is always more room at the table for more voices, whether that is in expert sources, editors, reporters, and any other role in the newsroom.
Sources:
- https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/07/race-and-the-newsroom-what-seven-research-studies-say/
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1464884916663599?journalCode=joua
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