Is representation boxed off in journalism?
Over the past decade, there has been a tremendous effort in the journalism industry to accommodate journalists from ethnic and religious minority backgrounds. You can observe such efforts through initiatives such as Creative Access, The Guardian’s Positive Action Scheme, and NCTJ’s Journalism Diversity Fund. All avenues that seek to employ more people from ethnic and religious minority backgrounds to make the newsroom better reflect the diverse communities that they serve.
This is paramount to the effort and the progress that the British journalism industry has made in the last decade.
Nevertheless, a two-year-old study by the City, University of London made the observation that in comparison to the data of the UK population founded in the 2011 Census, amongst their sample of 700 professional journalists, ‘all religious groups are under-represented in the population of UK journalists with the exception of Buddhists and Jews.’ Amongst these religious groups, ‘Muslims are most under-represented, followed by Hindus and Christians.’ Similarly, the same study also highlights that in comparison to the UK population, journalists from Asian and Black ethnicity backgrounds are also under-represented.
Therefore, this raises the concern of how effective have these popular schemes been to meet their purpose? Dr Neil Thurman, the director from which the research in City, University of London mentioned prior, says:
“British journalism has improved in some respects, there is still some way to go and there are some worrying trends for the future."
So, of course, it is more apparent to see more diversity in the newsrooms today than it would have been possible ten years ago, but we have not gone so far as reflecting the society that we represent. Fatima Manji, a Muslim correspondent for Channel 4, puts it openly in her speech at the NUJ Claudia Jones Lecture 2016:
“ It would be unfair to those who have struggled hard to break through the barriers if we denied the progress that has been made in the last few decades. Gone are the days when we crowded around our TV sets, wide-eyed, calling our families on the landline to alert them that Moira Stuart or Trevor McDonald were presenting the news.”
We can celebrate the victory in triumph or we can brush the intricate discrimination under the carpet. Because although it is no longer acceptable to deny a job to a person based on their race or their gender, nor is it permissible to pay an employee less over their white colleague due to the excess of melanin in their skin. The industry has learnt to adapt to the changing trends of society and now it is the underlying discrimination behind the scenes that go unnoticed. It is a qualified and an accomplished young female journalist awaiting a response after submitting numerous applications to potential employers; it is a Muslim journalist who meets the tick-box exercise for organisations seeking to be more ‘inclusive’; it is a Black journalist who is celebrated as a token employee but made to feel like they were employed as an act of noble gesture.
Why does all this matter?
The point has been made numerous times for the newsroom to better reflect the society that it represents. However, the issue goes far beyond that. Where there are many examples of stories that portray ethnic and religious minorities in a stereotypical fashion or a negative light, the need for more diversity in the newsroom has never been more necessary. This is reflected in the 2017 Audit of UK Democracy by Sonali Campion and Ross Taylor who report:
“There is a lack of diversity in the kind of stories that are reported. And excluded voices are often only brought in to stories dwelling on extremes or ‘otherness’.”
The real matter is, newsroom needs more compelling journalists from diverse backgrounds to offer alternative and versatile perspectives on stories. For example, a thorough content analysis can show that the number of stories that involve Muslims, from topics discussing politics to culture, paints a community of 1.6 billion adherents with a single paintbrush with sharp edges. Therefore, according to Fatima Manji’s speech at the NUJ Claudia Jones Lecture 2016, having a Muslim journalist on board could add more credibility to the newsroom as such an individual will be more ‘familiar with the complexities of their faith’, ‘understand nuances of a theological debate’ and they are ‘in touch both with the intellectual tradition but also with grassroots communities.’
Ultimately, this is saying that if there is a better representation of ethnic and religious minorities in the newsroom then the better the output of stories relating to these communities would be. It can then ‘better reflect the societies we represent’ — because a white male journalist may not always grasp the complexities involving an ethnic or a religious identity without a personal insight — essentially not demonstrating sincere reflection.
However, this can leave some implications. It leaves with the implication that there is a responsibility placed on journalists from ethnic and religious backgrounds to become the voice of their communities. It leaves with the implication of journalists like Fatima Manji being attacked by The Sun newspaper for reporting the terrorist attack in Nice, simply due to the apparent observation that she was a Muslim. Nesrine Malik, a columnist for The Guardian echoes the profound nature of this issue exceedingly in her one of her pieces:
“ One of the problems for journalists of colour, and to some extent women, is that they are called on to report on minority matters or their experience of them. Universal issues are, apparently, not their concern. As a result, it is difficult for them to develop the profile, range and general “authority” that white or male journalists do. Even when minorities do break the mould, they tend to go unrecognised. The British media are supposed to be holding the powerful to account while also reflecting society. And yet they are less representative than most of the reviled investment banks.”
The concern for being ‘pigeon-holed’ into sharing stories that are limited to the remit of culture, race or religion denounces the credibility and questions the objectivity of journalists from ethnic and religious backgrounds. Therefore, a coherent principality is needed that allows journalists and the journalism industry to support one another, the lenses of journalists from religious and ethnic backgrounds should be used and taken advantage of, however, their lenses should not be limited and scoped to reporting stories about them.
The future of better representation for journalism
A greater stride is needed to be made for journalists from ethnic and religious backgrounds. Professional pride should be met by hiring and promoting journalists based on merit and not their religious or ethnic identities. Nor should being Muslim or being black determine the types of stories journalists are expected to cover.
Efforts to encourage recruitment for journalists from ethnic and religious background should continue to be made, as it is needed, and it is essential to the plurality of the newsroom. However, all journalists should be recognised based on their skills, their work and their talents.
