Journalism Needs Diversity

 Kendall Kraft 

kk922418@ohio.edu

Source: Using Diversity Audits to Determine Your Company's Needs

Journalism is supposed to be an unbiased resource for information. Yet, how can something be unbiased when it doesn't even have a whole perspective. Journalism has a race problem, and analysis from the Pew Research Center explains that about half a newsroom is white men. Newsroom diversity has continued to remain very low. 

America is very diverse, and there need to be diverse perspectives across the media to make sense. Diversity in journalism has increased a little from the past, simply due to civil rights and women's rights movements. So now, there is no reason to still be behind in creating a diverse and inclusive workspace/newsroom. 

For journalists to give insight on specific stories, they must ignore stereotypes. It's hard to do as it is, especially without a diverse workspace. To report a story and tell it right, you have to put yourself in that person's shoes and be able to tell it the way it happens to them. 

The movement for diversity and inclusion has been ongoing, but there comes a time when it is borderline ridiculous that the problem isn't fixed by now. Fix the racism, fix the biased perspectives, and maybe there will be better stories and media platforms that come from it. Journalistic objectivity can only be objective when constructed by a primarily white, mainstream press. 

When a story is constantly written by your typical white male, especially about African-American or Hispanic culture, it lacks depth and the specific perception to tell the story. Of course, the typical people in the newsroom are still good at their job and write a good story, but sometimes a story needs more than that. It might need a diverse perspective to get into depth on one's specific cultural background. 

 

Source: Digital Transformation and Media Diversity

You cannot have journalism without diversity. Today's newsrooms need to realize that getting all perspectives is the only way to tell a story. Media and journalists need to give a realistic representation of our world, and having a majority of a newsroom be white males, is not it?