Improving Diversity in the Newsroom: Causes & Consequences
Introduction
Professional journalism is and has historically been a cultural institution that legitimizes and strengthens normative Whiteness: news produced by predominantly White journalists, tailored to White communities and audiences, defines professional journalism. Previously excluded from mainstream networks, the Black Press emerged as a counter-public where intellectuals and academics could share research and findings with a broader and more diverse audience. This counterpublic allowed for the exposure of biased and racist news narratives and provided a space to counter and correct these perspectives. The postwar decline of the Black press and the rise of “universal objectivity” at the expense of racially specific news by and for people of color has led to a stagnation in equitable news production and consumption. The majority of journalists remain disproportionately White: the lack of diverse viewpoints and equitable agenda-setting provides a risk to Schudson’s ideals of information, analysis, public forums, and social empathy. Generating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive news environment is crucial for the state of American democracy and for the deconstruction of institutional and structural racism.
Description
While the power of the press was first used to help establish democracy, it has also historically aided in the perpetuation of racist stereotypes. The first Americans to gain access to news media were White, literate men: the news was constructed to appeal to this audience. While some newsrooms claim to have addressed issues of racial exclusion, most remain dominated by White Americans: 76% of all reporting journalists surveyed identified as White, with only 6% identifying as Black. A consequence of this is a lack of emotional trust in the news: a 2023 survey by Pew Research Center found that 63% of Black adults say that the news they consume about Black people is often more negative than the news about other racial groups. The same survey found that a meager 14% of Black Americans believe that Black people will be covered fairly in the news in their lifetime. This pessimism has serious implications for American democracy: 53% of Black Republicans and 50% of Black Democrats surveyed say that media coverage misses crucial information about Black communities, and a smaller yet significant percentage of both parties agree that mainstream media stereotypes Black people. Americans with low emotional trust in national news are more doubtful of the political process and the opinions of experts. Without adequate and accurate representation of Black issues and information, emotional trust in news and democracy will continue to decline.
Causes
The white press in America has historically hidden from racism by disguising it “behind the veil of objectivity”, which rests upon the “race-neutral” norms generated by and for predominately White Americans. Agenda-setting theory posits that the media plays a central role in setting and framing the public agenda, determining which individuals, issues, events, or topics should be deemed important. The advertising-supported business model of privately owned commercial news organizations has led to the tailoring of news content towards “upscale consumer audiences”, which news organizations have defined as primarily white. News organizations therefore avoid topics that may offend or upset their audiences, and decide what is newsworthy based on their own experiences or those of their audiences.
The media made efforts to cover the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, however, they failed to address the deeper structural causes of these demonstrations. Instead, they focused on the riots occurring in the streets and the violence between citizens and law enforcement. In doing so, the Kerner Commission found that the media “repeatedly, if unconsciously, reflected the biases, the paternalism, the indifference of White America.” The media, in its “universally objectivist” stance, has historically avoided the perspectives and struggles of people of color and continues to do so today. For example, mainstream news coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2016 centered around the negative consequences of BLM protests on police officers, framing the protests as unpatriotic, irresponsible, and immoral. The continuous exclusion of Black voices within the newsroom and the techniques of reporting on racial issues outside of the newsroom has led to a perpetuation of stereotypes, consequently removing Black issues from mainstream agendas.
Consequences
The lack of diversity within the newsroom has major consequences for the many democratic functions of journalism, An exclusionist, and primarily White, newsroom fails to provide sufficient information to Black communities to aid in their political decision-making: a Pew Research Survey reported that a majority of Black voters believe the media is failing to provide adequate information to Black communities. It fails to provide equitable frameworks of interpretation and analysis to help all citizens comprehend a complex political and social environment, not just White ones. Increasing diversity will ensure that false conventional wisdom “held in a room full of people who come from similar places” is avoided in event and issue analysis. In tailoring its agenda to a White audience and failing to include diverse voices and their struggles, the media fails to provide adequate social empathy. In marginalizing the Black counter-public, it does not act as an inclusive public forum of debate: proper dialogue cannot ensue without the presence of multiple viewpoints. Overall, the failures of American media will discourage participation, trust, and pluralistic diversity in democracy by failing to provide information, analysis, public forums, and social empathy.
Conclusion
This country continues to struggle with institutional and structural racism, excluding thousands from adequate information, spaces for debate, and legitimate social empathy. News organizations must reform themselves to represent the entirety of the American populace. The media holds a vital responsibility in upholding American democracy, and the continuation of patterns of exclusion may lead to an exponential decline in legitimacy and trust in the government and the media. If the news reflects a vision of the world dependent upon those who create it, a job as crucial as this must be inclusive to all.
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