Diversity in the Newsroom Essay - 1680 Words

Ethics in Journalism: Diversity in newsrooms not a trend in the new millennium My interest in the lack of diversity in newsrooms across the United States began while I was enrolled in an ethics course in the journalism department, this semester. I hadn’t realized until this semester that diversity was integral to good, accurate, and fair reporting, and that it is also widely lacking in newsrooms. While the subject of diversity was only discussed over a few class sessions, it became a noticeably important issue for me, especially as I am an aspiring journalist. As a top editor at the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, a student-run newspaper at the University of Massachusetts that has almost no minority representation in the newsroom,†¦show more content†¦A newsroom that does not have an equal percentage of diverse reporters in correlation with the percentage of minority readers is essentially not providing fair coverage of their minority population. A study published June 1, 2005 by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation researched newsroom diversity percentages for 1,410 U.S. newspapers. The study found statistics for both corporate-owned newspapers and private-owned newspapers. As of June 1, 2005, almost a year and half ago, the study found that most newsrooms are below expected parity levels for diverse newsrooms, in correlation with their minority readership, and three-fourths of those newspapers are the largest in the U.S. A mere 18 percent of newsrooms are at their target goals for diversity in the newsroom, while 44 percent of newspapers nationwide have a declining percentage of diverse reporters. The statistics regarding newsroom diversity for the top six corporate-owned newspapers (USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, and the Washington Post) have also declined. Hà ¨ctor Tobar, a Latin American author and a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, says that the Times has â€Å"failed to represent the large Spanish-speaking community† and says that there is a â€Å"growing divide between news writers and news consumers.† In his article, featured in the Nieman Reports for fall 2006, heShow MoreRelatedThe Role Of Diversity And Its Role For Journalism835 Words   |  4 PagesWhat is the role of diversity in the newsroom? Use of the term diversity and its role in journalism only calls attention to the lack of it in newsrooms and magazines across the country. In their absence, I’d argue that the true value of having people of various ethnic and racial backgrounds present in the newsroom has as much to do with improving the process of newsgathering and reporting as it does achieving racial parity. In short, I think the role of diversity in journalism is to make journalismRead MoreEssay On Data Visualization839 Words   |  4 PagesCheck Out Our Cool Data Visuals Showing Employee Diversity in Major US Newsrooms and Other Useful Data Introduction Welcome again to our weekly post on the topic of Data Visualization (DataViz). Our today’s issue of DataViz Weekly focuses on employee diversity in the major US newsrooms, the business schools that give the highest and lowest boost to salaries, Americans’ daily routines and Britain’s vanishing property market. It features interesting charts and info-graphics, helping you to read,Read MoreHow Gender Affects Women s Role1644 Words   |  7 PagesResearch Paper: How Gender Affects Women s role in Newsrooms? While the increasing of female journalists ratio in newsrooms regarded as an accomplishment for women, statistics and other variables indicate the contrary. The fact that women s representation in newsrooms became larger than the past takes a lot of attention. However, most people do not know that this slightly enhance in women s representation remained stagnant for decades. A quick glance on the editorial positions of media’s organizationsRead MoreThe Effects Of Term Diversity On Journalism756 Words   |  4 PagesUse of the term diversity and its role in journalism only calls attention to the lack of it in newsrooms and magazines across the country. In their absence, I’d argue that the true value of having people of various ethnic and racial backgrounds present in the newsroom has as much to do with improving the process of newsgathering and reporting as it does achieving racial parity. For example, Donald Trump’s recent visit to Mexico not only highlighted the divisions within the Republican Party butRead MoreDesigning A Residents-Led Cultural And Religious Competence Program Analysis953 Words   |  4 Pagesgoals in preparing their residents and faculty in cultural, religious, and spirituality competence. 4. Participants that have limited diversity in their program faculty and residents will have the opportunity to consult the audience on creative ways to teach cultural competence. Practice GAP The 2010 U.S. Census revealed a significant shift in growth in the diversity of our population. Between 2000 and 2010 the Asian and Hispanic population grew by 43%.1 If one looks at the religious landscape, theRead MoreChange: Racial Tensions Since Obama’s Presidency1402 Words   |  6 PagesRacial tensions are a prominent issue in today’s society. Barack Obama being the first elected African American president has led America to a cultural evolution. As our country grows in diversity everyday it is important for citizens to recognize the change in racial tensions across the nation. Racial tension has always existed, especially here in the South, but it has changed particularly during Obama’s presidency. Racial tensions have changed in both positive and negative ways that affect everyoneRead MoreLos Angeles : A City Five Hundred Miles Wide And Two Inches Deep1566 Words   |  7 Pagestransplants to the tourists, from the locals of Watts and Sylmar to the reside nts of Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, from USC to UCLA the city’s diversity makes its character difficult for Angelinos to quantify. Especially considering how the demographics of the city have shifted over time, from one of the whitest metropolitan areas to a mecca of cultural diversity over the course of the twentieth century. The reputation of USC has followed a similar trek, from being known as the University of SpoiledRead MoreThe Modern Canadian Newspaper Industry1849 Words   |  8 Pagespublished lacks diversity and becomes increasingly uniform. Absent funding causes barriers to be broken between business and news, creating an industry that is profit driven. This desire for profit creates monopolies and furthers the issue of biased media. It also heightens competition between journalists and causes downsizing of newsrooms. Absent alternative funding for the Canadian newspaper industry leads to concentration of ownership and influences news coverage to lack diversity. The lack ofRead MoreTelevision, Television And The Internet1399 Words   |  6 Pagesin Kenya between 2007 and 2008. Melissa Bunce points out the issues surrounding a homogenized Africa and Western journalism’s dominance by introducing the perspective of Kenyan reporters and their treatment from their Western counterparts in the newsroom. She recounts the coverage of the Kenyan election as an archetypal example of reporting, with much of the coverage generalizing violence across the country, and the Western journalism’s failure to contextualize events . While this article does notRead MoreLegal Aspects of Diversity Article Review Essay900 Words   |  4 Pagesfor their hobbies. Many of these stores are in rural areas known to have a lack of cultural diversity. These areas are known for breeding ignorance and in turn have been known for stereotyping people, therefore finding that workplace diversity issues are not uncommon. Workplace diversity is a people issue that focuses on the differences of the people within any company. Workplace diversity also can be in relation with the areas that the people working are from. While moving around