Where is the Diversity?

Where have all the minority newspaper reporters, editors and photogs gone? I attended a statewide awards banquet sponsored by Connecticut’s SPJ Pro Chapter last month and there was not one black face in the room. There were a couple of Asian reporters, one or two Spanish speakers and a Native American. No other minorities. That should make some publisher’s faces red. We have all heard the debate over the years. All reporters should be able to cover any story. We should be “color-blind.” On the other hand, we’ve heard that we need more black and brown faces in the newsroom because it improves our news coverage. It seems to me that both are true. But, and it’s a big but, that latter argument carries more weight. We might aspire to be a color-blind society, but we aren’t. Race still matters in the U.S. How do we cover that immigration debate well if some of our reporters don’t speak Spanish or the other languages of those estimated 12-million undocumented workers in the country? How do we cover housing, health care, education or crime properly when most of our reporters can’t communicate with sources? I don’t think we can. My home town paper now has one black reporter among about 80 editorial workers. They had another black city-editor but he became frustrated and left. Another paper “downsized” (I love that word) one of their long-time black editors. The black and Latino graduates of the program where I teach are often choosing other professions. They realize the starting pay is much better in other fields and don’t think they can make the financial sacrifice to stay with journalism. They often have the most potential. That is tragic. The SPJ Ethics Code says journalists should: “Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so. Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others. Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.” News companies need to assert themselves in hiring and promoting more minority reporters. It’s good for the companies, the editorial workers and for the public’s trust in what we try to do.