Who we are as people affects how we do journalism. Our values, our lived experiences, our personal ethics, our surroundings, our friends…all of it influences what we’re curious about and what we find interesting. And collectively, that determines what we cover.
It’s also pretty undeniable that, collectively, journalists have a lot more in common with each other than we often do with the communities we serve. We are also not immune from the societal sorting that’s happening, in which we are increasingly surrounded by people we have a lot in common with.
As an industry, it’s clear we’re whiter, more educated and more middle to upper class (by actual salary or by mindset). We’re also more urban — 22% of newsroom employees live in New York, D.C. or L.A. compared to 13% of the overall workforce. It’s clear to me that we’re also more liberal and more secular, though hard data on those topics are harder to come by.
Journalism is a team sport. We rely on each other to help us best reflect a complicated world and to wrestle with the most accurate versions of a variety of perspectives in good faith.
We have gotten into the habit of acknowledging — but are still not making nearly fast enough progress on — our lack of racial diversity. (Sadly, I suspect we would be less transparent about that challenge if it were easier to hide.) We know that we have blind spots, and more newsrooms are investing in reckoning with the harm they have caused and with the intense work they need to do to earn a trusted role in the lives of communities of color. We’re still not doing nearly enough to talk openly about it with the people we serve. (Our team at Trusting News has been working on that.)
I’m hopeful that we’re also ready as an industry to talk honestly about how our lived experiences in other areas affect our ability to cover our communities with empathy and complexity. Do you have people on your team whose own experiences can help ensure your coverage of rural life is complex and based in the real values and priorities of the communities you cover? How about people with experience in law enforcement families? Or immigrant families?
How about when it comes to covering polarizing topics? I hope your newsrooms are staffed by people who agree with the basic fact that the outcome of the 2020 election was valid and are committed to reporting that authoritatively. But I also hope you have people who can empathize with the information climate that produced a majority of Republicans still saying last month that Trump’s claims had legitimacy. Our coverage needs to understand that information climate if we hope to penetrate it. And what about a topic like abortion? Can colleagues in your newsroom help each other present accurate, respectful, neutrally framed summaries across the spectrum of views on abortion?
I am hopeful that in 2022 we can do the following:
We’re better off when our team represents a variety of lived experiences. Let’s make this the year we get honest about who we are and how that affects our work.
Joy Mayer is director of Trusting News.
Who we are as people affects how we do journalism. Our values, our lived experiences, our personal ethics, our surroundings, our friends…all of it influences what we’re curious about and what we find interesting. And collectively, that determines what we cover.
It’s also pretty undeniable that, collectively, journalists have a lot more in common with each other than we often do with the communities we serve. We are also not immune from the societal sorting that’s happening, in which we are increasingly surrounded by people we have a lot in common with.
As an industry, it’s clear we’re whiter, more educated and more middle to upper class (by actual salary or by mindset). We’re also more urban — 22% of newsroom employees live in New York, D.C. or L.A. compared to 13% of the overall workforce. It’s clear to me that we’re also more liberal and more secular, though hard data on those topics are harder to come by.
Journalism is a team sport. We rely on each other to help us best reflect a complicated world and to wrestle with the most accurate versions of a variety of perspectives in good faith.
We have gotten into the habit of acknowledging — but are still not making nearly fast enough progress on — our lack of racial diversity. (Sadly, I suspect we would be less transparent about that challenge if it were easier to hide.) We know that we have blind spots, and more newsrooms are investing in reckoning with the harm they have caused and with the intense work they need to do to earn a trusted role in the lives of communities of color. We’re still not doing nearly enough to talk openly about it with the people we serve. (Our team at Trusting News has been working on that.)
I’m hopeful that we’re also ready as an industry to talk honestly about how our lived experiences in other areas affect our ability to cover our communities with empathy and complexity. Do you have people on your team whose own experiences can help ensure your coverage of rural life is complex and based in the real values and priorities of the communities you cover? How about people with experience in law enforcement families? Or immigrant families?
How about when it comes to covering polarizing topics? I hope your newsrooms are staffed by people who agree with the basic fact that the outcome of the 2020 election was valid and are committed to reporting that authoritatively. But I also hope you have people who can empathize with the information climate that produced a majority of Republicans still saying last month that Trump’s claims had legitimacy. Our coverage needs to understand that information climate if we hope to penetrate it. And what about a topic like abortion? Can colleagues in your newsroom help each other present accurate, respectful, neutrally framed summaries across the spectrum of views on abortion?
I am hopeful that in 2022 we can do the following:
We’re better off when our team represents a variety of lived experiences. Let’s make this the year we get honest about who we are and how that affects our work.
Joy Mayer is director of Trusting News.
Joy Mayer
Tom Trewinnard
Matt DeRienzo
Jody Brannon
Amara Aguilar
Gabe Schneider
Anita Varma
Mario García
Jim Friedlich
Paul Cheung
Candace Amos
Joe Amditis
Kathleen Searles Rebekah Trumble
Tamar Charney
Matt Karolian
Ariel Zirulnick
Anthony Nadler
Millie Tran
Moreno Cruz Osório
Jennifer Coogan
Shannon McGregor Carolyn Schmitt
Christoph Mergerson
Sarah Stonbely
Kristen Jeffers
David Cohn
Amy Schmitz Weiss
Laxmi Parthasarathy
Gonzalo del Peon
AX Mina
Joshua P. Darr
Andrew Freedman
Jennifer Brandel
Tony Baranowski
Christina Shih
Chase Davis
Sarah Marshall
Jessica Clark
Meena Thiruvengadam
Kerri Hoffman
A.J. Bauer
Zizi Papacharissi
Izabella Kaminska
James Green
Victor Pickard
Chicas Poderosas
Robert Hernandez
Parker Molloy
Mandy Jenkins
Gordon Crovitz
Matthew Pressman
Natalia Viana
Melody Kramer
Francesco Zaffarano
Don Day
Jesenia De Moya Correa
Raney Aronson-Rath
Cindy Royal
Cristina Tardáguila
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Larry Ryckman
Sam Guzik
Eric Nuzum
Cherian George
Whitney Phillips
Kendra Pierre-Louis
Catalina Albeanu
David Skok
Stephen Fowler
Mike Rispoli
Burt Herman
Jesse Holcomb
Joni Deutsch
Joanne McNeil
Michael W. Wagner
Jonas Kaiser
Mary Walter-Brown
Janelle Salanga
Alice Antheaume
Daniel Eilemberg
Anika Anand
Nikki Usher
John Davidow
Rachel Glickhouse
Doris Truong
Wilson Liévano
Richard Tofel
Shalabh Upadhyay
Ståle Grut
Julia Angwin
Megan McCarthy
Juleyka Lantigua
Kristen Muller
Errin Haines
Simon Allison
Stefanie Murray
Julia Munslow
Brian Moritz
Simon Galperin
S. Mitra Kalita
j. Siguru Wahutu