Why Diversity and Journalism Service Matter?

On Tuesday, at 3.30 p.m., Gregory H. Lee Jr. gave a talk in Smith Forum, Reynolds Journalism Institute. Lee is a sports editor at Boston Globe and the co-director of Sports Journalism Institute (SJI). He is also the president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

In the talk, Lee elaborated on the disparities in newsroom and hiring practices. According to Lee, major papers usually hire eight white males and one female on average. Also, there was a news outlet (unnamed) once hired 17 employees with no African American. Lee mentioned that employer should be aware of their hiring practices. From the talk, I learned that employers should reach out, and should not linger in their comfort zones when comes to hiring people. Employers should explore and hire variety of employees with different background as it will definitely benefit the news outlet. Besides that, I learned that it is important to have diversity in newsroom so that someone could point out and give opinions if a news story reflects any sort of bias. One example was when Aaliyah, a R&B singer passed away and Payne Stewart, an American professional golfer, died on the same day. Payne Stewart's death was on the front page, however, Aaliyah's death was published at the back of the newspaper. This happened because no one in the newsroom knew who Aaliyah was as they were mainly whites. If the newsroom had employees who were African Americans, they might have known who Aaliyah was, and bias in news reporting would not had happened.

A double standard in newsroom is the minorities journalists were expected to know everything while the whites do not have to know everything else. Lee talked about his past experience when he was expected to know about The Beatles, famous English rock band in 60s. However, the white journalists were spared from having to know things that were out of their comfort zones. One good illustration was the story about Aaliyah's death. From this information, I have learned that regardless of your race, all journalists should educate themselves with knowledge about various cultures and people around the world. This can be done by learning about Black history, Asian studies and other studies that help to expand one's knowledge about cultures. As journalists, we should not be ignorant of other's cultures and lifestyles.

In comparison to the past, the diversity in the newsrooms is gradually improving. In 1993, there were no African American sports editor in news outlets. However, this year, Nadia Crow became the first African American anchorwoman in Utah. In my opinion, the society is starting to realize the inequality of news reporting, thus, creating an awareness on the demand of minorities journalists. Also, many African Americans and other minorities are starting to stand up for the disparities in the journalism industry. That's why for the past few years, we see the emerging of associations such as National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Asian American Journalist Association and Native American Journalists Associations (NAJA). All these associations help aspiring journalists who are minorities to achieve their ambitions, and to overcome disparities in newsrooms.