Why Diverse News Media Representation is More Important Than Ever

 Arielle Lyons

al417019@ohio.edu

Image Source: iStock

In the age of social media, it's all too common for a news story only to become a news story because so many people raised a fuss about it not being a news story. Often, the outrage comes from the fact that a minority ethnic group or sexual orientation is being discriminated against in this story, and that group again feels silenced. When injustices go unreported, the narrative around the news media is that "the media" is a faceless conglomerate that doesn't care or want you to know. However, behind every news site, television station, and newspaper is a group of people that want to deliver the news. Unfortunately, stories of injustice will go unreported if that group of people doesn't have members from minority communities. That's why diverse representation in the newsroom is so important right now.

Currently, the ratio of ethnic minorities to non-Hispanic whites in the newsroom isn't equivalent to the ratio in the rest of the workforce. According to Nieman Lab:

According to Pew Research Center, about three-quarters of newsroom employees are non-Hispanic white, compared with about two-thirds of all U.S. workers, according to ... Pew Research Center. About half of newsroom staff are white men, compared with about one-third of the overall workforce. Newsroom diversity remains far below the goal the American Society of News Editors set in 1978 "of minority employment by the year 2000 equivalent to the percentage of minority persons within the national population." Racial and ethnic minorities make up about 40% of the U.S. population.

When racial diversity in newsrooms doesn't mirror the diversity in the rest of the workforce, let alone the U.S. population, that 40% gets left out of the news. People have the desire and need to know about what's happening in the world relevant to them. Unfortunately, when their stories are told, those who are not members of the group they are reporting on tend to misrepresent them. The Guardian writer Jelani Cobb recounts a New York Times article about robberies in the Bronx that he felt was misreported:

Confronted by armed antagonists, the article sighed; many people refused to surrender their belongings, even when they had only a few dollars on them. The article tsk-tsked at community members for tempting fate. 

Cobb, who has experience living near the Bronx, knew that even those with only a few dollars in their pockets may have needed those dollars to possibly find transportation to work, something someone in a poor community needs desperately. Had someone from the area, which has a high concentration of Black and Latino residents, edited the piece, perhaps, such shame towards victims of crime may not have occurred. 

Diversification in the newsroom is more critical now than ever before. In a world that points fingers and can send said finger-pointing across hundreds of channels at once, underrepresented communities need someone on their side. Even allies can make mistakes. It's time news media represents who the news is for: everyone.