U.S. Newsrooms’ diversity efforts: 87% of the respondents white (and satisfied)
It is well established by now that the lack of diversity in the newsrooms and the journalists employed have a direct impact on the coverage of news, resulting in the exclusion of significant groups of the society and their interests or issues.
This is why researches and surveys regarding the situation in the newsrooms around the world are of importance and should be of interest to the wider audience: the news agenda will not change unless its gatekeepers change.
At the end of 2021, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications conducted its second-ever Medill Media Industry Survey, run by Associate Professor Stephanie Edgerly of Medill, and Danielle K. Brown, the Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity and Equality, at the University of Minnesota.
Limited and segregated group of respondents
The first interesting remark is that only 6% of news media employees answered the Medill survey, while the respondents were predominantly white, at 86.9%.
Out of 25,000 people invited to participate in the survey, only 1,500 members of the U.S. news media completed the questionnaire. The full database used for the reach-out was Cision’s and included individuals who had at least one of the following keywords in their profile: columnist, correspondent, director, editor, producer, reporter, writer.
White dominance in the newsrooms reflected in the news coverage
Diversity in newsrooms has lagged the U.S. nation overall for generations, and newsroom employees still are more likely to be white and male than U.S. workers in general.
The Pew Research Center found that 77% of those who work as reporters, editors, photographers and videographers in the news business were non-Hispanic whites, according to an analysis of 2012-2016 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Workers in all occupations were 65% non-Hispanic whites, a 12%age-point difference. About 61% of newsroom employees identified as men, more than the 53% level of all workers.
Reflecting these demographic findings, respondents to the Medill survey were predominantly white, at 86.9%.
After the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, newsrooms came under pressure to make immediate changes, and some chose to appoint a head of diversity, noted Doris Truong, director of training and diversity at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a school for professional journalists and a journalism think tank. The widespread layoffs that followed the financial crisis of 2008-09 took a toll on journalists of colour who had been hired in diversity initiatives over the previous decade, Truong noted.
Subscription models could drive race diversity
The staying power of diversity efforts could get a boost from changing economics, as news organizations become less dependent on big advertisers, said the University of Maryland’s Rosenstiel.
While advertisers pushed newsrooms to tailor coverage toward the wealthier, white-collar audiences they wanted to reach, a business model increasingly dependent on subscriptions could encourage more inclusive coverage, Rosenstiel said. “For publications to survive on subscriptions, memberships and donations, they need to serve pockets and neighborhoods they’ve ignored for years and years.”
This is reflected in the survey as well, as among the types of media the ones with the worst performance in diversity efforts, according to the respondents, were the magazines (with a 36% responding that the organisation devotes comprehensive DEI efforts), a type heavily depending on mainstream advertising.
This is a very interesting way of seeing the subscription models that many professionals accuse as elitistic, as they result to limiting quality journalism to those who can, or value it enough to pay, leaving the wide audience exposed to non-trustworthy sources.
Language policies and Diversity training increased
Asked if their media organizations value diversity, equity, inclusion and advocacy work, 71% of the survey respondents overall agreed – which of course is difficult to evaluate given the type of predominant groups in the newsrooms.
A clear though sign of steps towards the right direction are the language policies and the diversity trainings, which on the one hand mark a clear willingness for improvement and on the other hand can really help to drive an actual change.
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