It is something we’ve heard for decades now and are occasionally reminded of as we cover the news in our communities. But as the years wear on, the mantra begins to ring hollow. It falls into the category of directives like “drive safely” or “eat right.” Sure they are things that are good for us, but there is little guidance offered on how to execute them.
The purpose of this toolkit is to equip you with information on why diversity is important and with practical ways to apply it to your daily work. But before you start using this toolkit, we should think about exactly what we mean when we talk about diversity in the newsroom and in your coverage.
Historical Background
Sparked by the turbulence of the 1960s, newsroom diversity began as an initiative about race. With the civil unrest that exploded in some communities, it became startlingly evident that most of those assigned by mainstream media to report on it did not look like the people they were covering, nor did they understand some of the deep-rooted causes for their actions. That led to debates both internal and external about how well minorities were represented in the nation’s newsrooms and eventually to the first significant numbers of people of color entering the workforce.
In the time since that initial push, the audience composed of people of color has grown substantially, and there has been evidence of some progress made in the hiring of minority staffers over the decades. At the same time, the notion of who should be included under the umbrella of diversity has expanded.
Diversity in Electronic Journalism
Over the years RTDNA, with help from Ball State University, has been tracking the number of minorities in broadcast newsrooms. In television, the percentage of minorities working in local television news last year rose to the second-highest level ever and the percentage of minorities working in local radio news was down.� The percentage of minority TV news directors was 13.2 percent, up from 12 percent the year before. In radio, the percentage of minority news directors was 4.4 percent.�
The diversity of the newsroom does matter.� But as important as a diverse newsroom is, what’s important to viewers and listeners is whether they are being represented in the coverage of their world, their community and their issues. Do stories about crime, the economy, politics and health, stories that can affect everyone, reflect the diversity of the community being served?
When you do general stories such as weather, gas prices or holiday shopping, do you make it a point to reflect diversity when you interview people on the street? Do you engage in a dialogue with your audience through focus groups, town hall meetings or community advisory boards to determine what’s really important to them or do residents believe they only see your cameras when something bad happens in their neighborhoods?
Making sure your news appeals to a wide audience is no longer simply the right thing to do. It is rapidly becoming a matter of survival. As new technologies threaten to erode the audience for broadcast news, every listener and every viewer counts. Using this toolkit, and being aggressive about addressing this challenge, may be what keeps your newsroom ahead of the rest.
However, as we consider diversity and how news organizations embrace it, we have to take the issue beyond the boundaries of race and ethnicity. As journalists addressing a general audience, we need to be aware of and sensitive to issues involving religious minorities, the gay community, the disabled, the poor, seniors and other groups.
Look around your newsroom. Is it filled with people of similar educational and economic backgrounds? Do you tend to think alike politically? Do you share similar values and see issues in similar ways? Are most people close in age? If that’s the case, you have a diversity concern within your organization that goes beyond the issue of race.
How to Address the Broader Diversity Issue
There are ways to address this broader diversity issue that cost nothing. They include:
Using this toolkit.
Using the Internet to solicit feedback from your audience and develop interactive ways to engage them in the editorial process.
Using resources available at your station to know who your audience is and what its needs and interests are. Chances are both the news department and the sales department have conducted audience research and have information on your viewers. Ask management to share it with you so you can do a better job of reaching that audience.
Those who think talking about diversity is just another form of political correctness miss the point. Real diversity is not designed to be overly fair to one group by being unfair to another. It is not meant to stifle debate but to encourage dialogue and the lively exchange of ideas critical to a vibrant democracy like ours.
Let’s be practical. You are not going to squeeze every minority or interest group into every story. The goal of this toolkit is to force you to think about who your audiences are and consider whether you are doing the best job possible to make sure their interests and concerns are being addressed in your coverage of issues that affect them.
As a journalist and as an employee of your news organization, you have many responsibilities. One of your primary obligations is to serve the needs of your audience, an audience that is rapidly changing and becoming more diverse in race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, income and a number of other demographic factors. Serving this audience effectively makes good business sense and makes for good journalism. The case studies and videos that make up this Diversity Toolkit will help you address this very important issue.
Diversity in the newsroom brings creativity, insight and diverse perspectives that will create not only a balanced workplace but also one that is financially competitive in the 21st-century global marketplace.
This flows from our commitment to diversity -- in our staff and on air. We make that commitment because it is the right thing to do in a democracy or in any other kind of society for that matter. We make it because we believe it is bad journalism to ignore large segments of the community in our coverage area. And, frankly, we make it because it's good business. We won't stay in business in our diverse nation if we produce newscasts largely by, about and filled with straight white men.
That does not mean strict adherence to specific numerical targets. We don't need to ensure that 8.5 percent of the people in our newscasts are African American, or 21 percent Latin American, or 10 percent of the people in our newsroom are gay or 20 percent of the people in our newsroom are Asian American, half male and half female, to use a few examples. Doing so would be artificial and mechanical, without regard for the different stories, abilities and personalities that come our way at different times.
But it does mean acting affirmatively -- making the conscious effort to see that people of color and both genders and all ages and orientations are not underrepresented in our newsrooms and newscasts. And, it means ensuring that our newscasts don't perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes.
Diversity has taken on many personalities throughout the years. It is no longer a black and white question, if ever it was. Today, diversity is as colorful as a rainbow and as broad as the ocean. It has come to mean different things for different people, but there is one constant, in order to move ahead and embrace change, we must never forget to include everyone in the discussion. Without communication there is chaos, and when chaos rules, fear and ignorance take root, leading to exclusion and prejudice. Diversity, to me, is being part of the solution.
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Willie Chriesman is a veteran of more than twenty-five years in television news. He now heads his own business based on the skills and knowledge he has acquired during his distinguished career. During that career, he has worked in every aspect of newscast producing and management for some of the nation’s top broadcast companies and television stations.
His media venture, Chriesman & Associates, focuses on independent production, corporate communications and newsroom diversity. He is also a principal with Devonwood Media, an Atlanta-based media strategies and consulting firm.
Conduct a diversity workshop in your newsroom. The Diversity Toolkit is a free resource.
Diversity is a good thing.
Gary Wordlaw
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