Author: Anita Sthankiya
The news media is currently living in a bubble, equipped with a plethora of problems running much deeper than shades of black and white.
This article is the first in a three-part series examining diversity in news media. In this article, I will look at the lack of minorities represented in news media, and the resulting biases that come with a lack of diversity in news media.
The conversation surrounding diversity in news has been ongoing for decades, but has only increased thanks to a recent surge in fake news. This bump in fake news was especially apparent when it was revealed Russia had manipulated social media platforms during the 2016 U.S. election. Following a number of tense interactions with police (which spurred movements such as, Black Lives Matter) Russians used anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, anti-Latino, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-Muslim messaging across various social media platforms.
This messaging stoked the fake-news-fire, adding hate to an already hostile situation. According to Janet Murguia, president and CEO of UnidosUS, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., social media companies not only helped promote bigotry, but have provided alt-right populist groups with a platform “beyond their wildest dreams.”
Since Facebook is the top social media sharing source on the internet, it was arguably up to them to vet information being disseminated, and to counter hate speech on their platform. Something that didn’t happen, as only a small percentage of their workforce consists of minorities, argued Murguia.
“Social media companies must work with organizations representing affected communities on how to most effectively counter hate speech on their platforms,” said Murguia in a Huffington Post article. “The companies should provide the opportunity, the resources, and the training to help these organizations create and disseminate this content.”
In part, fake news has pushed the issue of diversity in the news to the forefront of national and international debate; however, the issue remains of significant scope, primarily because news is now consumed in so many different forms.
In the United States, surveys conducted by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) and the Radio Television Digital News Foundation (RTNDF), found that the vast majority of journalists are white men who live in urban centers on the coasts.
Of course, diversity comes in many different forms — gender, ethnic, racial, ideological, ability, economic, and geographic — and what this diversity means is that one voice cannot speak for all. In America, there is only one dominant voice telling the story, and even well-intentioned coverage can suffer from biases when it comes from a single lens.
According to the ASNE survey, of the 737 news publications online and in print in the U.S. that responded, minorities represent 17 percent of the newsroom workforce.
In the RTDNA survey published July 2016, they received responses from 1,286 television stations and 484 radio stations. Minorities in television newsrooms represented 23 percent of the workforce, while only nine percent of the workforce at radio stations.
In order for there to be a wide range of diversity and minority talent in media, the effort needs to be continuous, and evolve in tandem with the nation’s changing demographics. The 2016 election, and the events that have followed, have only reinforced this need.
Almost daily we see “cultural blunders” from all types of organizations, including ad agencies and news outlets. The “cultural blunders” coming out of ad agencies is another issue on its own, but a recent controversy that made headlines is a perfect example of ad agencies and news organizations missing the mark, when it comes to appropriately covering a topic from various perspectives.
Recently, Dove was criticized for a body-wash commercial they released on Facebook. It included a short video showing a black woman taking off her shirt to reveal a white woman, who then removed her top to reveal a woman with a brown complexion. Social media users accused Dove of suggesting black skin is dirty.
Media organizations then went on to report the story, but failed to cover it in depth, and from various perspectives. They only covered the outrage from the audience, and the response from the company. News organizations failed to dig deeper, to lift the veil on why the ad was problematic in the first place.
The controversy then turned to the models in the ad, as they defended the video. The Nigerian model Lola Ogunyemi was quoted saying, “all of the women in the shoot understood the concept and overarching objective — to use our differences to highlight the fact that all skin deserves gentleness.”
Once the model confirmed the ad was empowering to her individually, the conversation stopped. Throughout the controversy, the media ignored the thoughts and opinions of the white and brown model. Neither model was mentioned nor interviewed regarding the issue. This scenario is an example of how a lack of diversity in the newsroom could negatively impact in-depth and accurate coverage. No outlet or journalist ever sat back and questioned why the ad was even considered as racist or connoting racial undertones.
Responsible, diversified newsrooms should have touched on this topic, helping to address the larger cultural problems at the core of this advertisement. Through having a diversified newsroom, the hope is that these important conversations will start being an everyday reality. This reality will take time to foster, but shouldn’t deter major news organizations from delivering on a more diverse perspective.
Every single news and media organization jumped on the Dove story, except for a few fringe outlets. Unfortunately the story was told the same way every time. Nobody bothered to look at the bigger issue surrounding these blunders. No one took a minute to ask themselves why issues such as the Dove controversy continue to make headlines in the same context, over and over again. The issue can be attributed to the lack of diversity in the news media workforce, specifically in management positions.
In the second part of this series we will look at the lack of gender diversity when it comes to women in news media, and the resulting bias and impact in television news.
