Newsroom diversity

During the 1990s and the early 2000s there was a widespread effort from many media publications to diversify their staffs. In theory, a more diverse staff translates to diverse points of view and a more eclectic group of stories and coverage. For many newsrooms, this push toward diversity eventually gave way to a focus on integrating technology in the newsroom and ultimately to retaining what staff they could due to financial and budgetary concerns. However, a lack of resources does not mean newsrooms shouldn't make an effort to make sure their staff represents the varying interests of their readers.

Journalism and life itself would be boring if everyone was interested in the same things. There's already somewhat of a homogenization of ideas in journalism. If you are a journalist, you are expected to read. The New Yorker and be well versed in every episode of "the wire". You should have read "all the president's men" and be intimately familiar with the work of Hunter S. Thompson. The same societal norms extend to the tech world-----if you have a computer it should be Mac, if you have email it should be Gmail and if you have a phone it should be iphone or blackberry.(  article, Vanity Fair )

However, if every reporter or editor has the same interests and thinks alike, the newsroom will unknowingly and collectively produce the same stories and target the same audiences, leaving other sections of the readership or viewership underserved and underrepresented.

Newsrooms should represent the communities they cover and a diverse staff with varying interests and ideas translates into a broader spectrum of stories. This, in turn, better serves the audience. Diversity doesn't just mean race or gender either, but a variety of factors, including age, socioeconomic background and more. Diversity for diversity's sake is wrong and misguided, but diversity in the name of producing better journalism should be applauded and a goal of every newsroom. (article, vanity fair)

Management skills are at the heart of the retention challenge. Effective mentors and role models are essential in helping journalists of color satisfy their expectations in many aspects of their jobs:

_ Making an impact as a journalist.

_Working in a flexible and creative environment.

_ Covering stories that interest them.

_ Having the opportunity to work for an editor of color.

_ Experiencing career development and advancement opportunities equal to those of their white colleagues.

_ Believing the newspaper’s commitment to diversity is genuine.

Each and all of these points influence the choices journalists of color make about whether to stay or leave.(by Robert H Gills)

Lower retention rates for journalists of color adversely affect newsroom diversity, The Freedom Forum surveyed newspaper journalists of color in the summer of 1999. The survey’s key findings:

_ Journalists of color were indeed far more likely than white journalists to say they

might leave the newspaper business.

_ The most common factors that might cause journalists of color to leave are

interest in another field, lack of advancement opportunities and burnout.

_ One finding starkly demonstrated the salience of the advancement issue: Three fourths of journalists of color agreed with the statement, “As a journalist of color, I sometimes feel that I have to work harder than white journalists to get ahead.”

_ Better pay, better hours and more opportunities for professional development would encourage many journalists of color to stay at newspapers.