Society of Professional Journalists: Diversity: The Whole Story

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The Whole Story
• Immigration reporting: How to advance it and make it original
• Black Americans: The best journalists know their history
• Covering the heart of poverty, not just its victims
• Reporting on the same-sex marriage debate
• The Definition of Diversity
• Diversity Style Guides Roundup
• Build Some Background
• Covering the heart of poverty

Diversity
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Anti-Profiling Guidelines
The Whole Story: Tips & Tools
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Diversity Committee

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SPJ's Diversity Committee Blog
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— SPJ Diversity pleased with AP decision on “illegal immigrant” term usage
— Using More Women As Sources
— The New Face Of SPJ

Diversity Committee
On both chapter and national levels, SPJ provides an open forum for the discussion of diversity issues in journalism. This committee's purpose is to promote a broader voice in newsrooms across the country and expand the depth and quality of news reports through better sourcing. Its ongoing project is the compilation of experts — primarily women, gays and lesbians, people of color and people with disabilities — through the Society's Diversity Source Book. The Society's relevance to its member is based on inclusiveness.

Diversity Committee Chair

Sandra Gonzalez
Reporter
KSNV-TV
E-mail

Diversity Committee Members

Tracy Everbach
Associate Professor of Journalism
University of North Texas
E-mail

Sally Lehrman
Santa Clara University
Montara, Calif.
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)

Sally Lehrman holds Santa Clara University’s Knight Ridder — San Jose Mercury News Endowed Chair in Journalism and the Public Interest. Also an independent journalist, Lehrman specializes in covering identity, race relations and gender within the context of medicine and science. Her byline credits include Scientific American, Health, Salon.com, The New York Times, Nature, The Boston Globe and The DNA Files, the Peabody Award-winning documentary series distributed by National Public Radio. Lehrman is author of News in a New America, a fresh take on diversity in coverage and staffing, and served for a decade as national diversity chair for the Society of Professional Journalists. She was a 1995-96 John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University and is an Institute for Justice and Journalism Senior Fellow on race.

Walter Middlebrook
Assistant Managing Editor
The Detroit News
615 W. Lafayette Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48226
313-222-2429
E-mail

Jeremy Steele
Director of Media Relations
The John Truscott Group
124 W. Allegan St., Ste. 802
Lansing, MI 48933
517-485-8404
E-mail

Rebecca Tallent
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho
E-mail

Georgiana Vines
Retired Associate Editor
Knoxville News Sentinel
E-mail

Sherri Williams
Adjunct Professor
Syracuse University
Freelance Multimedia Journalist
E-mail

Home > Diversity > The Whole Story: Diversity Tips and Tools > Definition of Diversity

The Whole Story: Diversity Tips and Tools
Definition of Diversity

What does “diversity” mean to you?

Keith Woods, group leader in reporting, writing and editing for the Poynter Institute, says excellent, ethical journalism honors the core principles of truth, accuracy, fairness and balance. To be complete, journalists must bring the fullest possible range of people and issues into their work. This means…

Inclusion: Include in your coverage those who have frequently been left out of the news, particularly black people, Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, white women, gays, lesbians, and poor people of all races.

Covering the under-covered: Find the people whose stories aren’t being told and tell them. Locate stories that help your readers understand the people and the world around them.

Mitigating bias & prejudice: Strive to tell stories that are free of euphemisms and stereotypes. Examine the framing of stories for unchecked bias.

(From Keith Woods, “A Complete Picture”)