Racism Exists At St. Louis Public Radio. Acknowledge it.
As people all over the world rise up to reaffirm the value of Black lives, journalists are turning the lens on news organizations across the country that have almost entirely white newsrooms, leadership teams, and boards. St. Louis Public Radio is one of many public media organizations that are stained by this legacy of structural racism.
Our station’s leaders need to take responsibility for their role in cultivating a culture that perpetuates racism. St. Louis Public Radio had an all-white newsroom until 2013 and has failed to both racially diversify its staff and retain journalists of color. The station received hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds to increase its diversity in 2017. But even after internal issues were exposed in a Current article, very little changed. Only one out of five journalists in the newsroom is a person of color. After a recent round of layoffs, only one editor of color remains. Included in the layoffs was an editor of color, brought on as part of a CPB-backed diversity project, who oversaw race and identity coverage. The senior leadership team has no individuals of color.
Tim Eby, the station’s general manager, oversees the senior leadership team and has the power to make necessary changes to policies and practices. He could make it a priority to transform the station into a diverse, inclusive, and equitable place to work. But instead, he chose to uphold white supremacy at the station by remaining complacent with the status quo. Now, more than two dozen staffers have spoken out to put pressure on him and Executive Editor Shula Neuman to address the station’s racism. In his responses to these demands, Eby refuses to call racism what it is and instead defaults to euphemisms like “implicit bias” and “systemic bias.”
Recently, these staffers demanded the departure of Robert B. Peterson III, former director of radio programming and operations, over allegations of discrimination and racism. Peterson repeatedly denied advancement and training opportunities to a Black female announcer who was eager and willing to learn. Only last month, after reporters raised concerns at a newsroom meeting, did GM Tim Eby state that she would receive training. During his tenure, Peterson also internally promoted two white managers, one of whom created a toxic work environment for women of color.
More than a month ago, we submitted a formal letter to Tim Eby, demanding better hiring practices, new employee training, and a budget that would make the station a truly equitable and safe place to work. In response, the leaders of our station have made some promises to evaluate existing policies, but also told us that many of the changes we demand will require funding the station doesn’t have. In a recent staff meeting, we suggested investing in the Next Generation Radio Project, a digital journalism and audio training project that develops journalists of color. Executive Editor Shula Neuman responded that the station did not have the funds for this. However, the station has previously taken credit for reporters’ contributions to Next Generation Radio in annual reports to donors and the board.
Since 2013, the station has hired about 20 journalists of color to work in the newsroom and on the We Live Here podcast. More than half of them have since left the organization. We consistently have to fight our editors to get stories about race and communities of color told with nuance and accuracy. For instance, a local youth group traveled to Virginia last year to commemorate the anniversary of the first enslaved Africans being forcibly brought there in 1619. The group invited and offered to pay for travel for a Black St. Louis Public Radio reporter, but Executive Editor Shula Neuman denied the reporter’s request for support for housing and food. She didn’t think the story was big enough or worth covering. In another instance, the station’s only Black male reporter, who is originally from St. Louis, was not initially included as part of the team chosen to report on the five-year anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown Jr. Later, Shula Neuman said this reporter had not demonstrated the ability to tell these kinds of stories.
Journalists of color are not consistently valued or invested in at the station. In a recent staff meeting, an Asian reporter who has worked at the station longer than many of her colleagues expressed her ambitions to become a podcast producer and asked whether it would be possible to produce podcasts for the station in the next couple years. General Manager Tim Eby told her she needed to develop a business plan or “assess” her “situation” at the station. In another instance, the newsroom’s first full-time Latina journalist applied for and was offered another role within the station, and was expected to be satisfied with a salary offer without negotiation.
If the station valued journalists of color, management would respond properly to journalists’ concerns about racism. But they have not. Last year, reporters informed managers about microaggressions from donors and sources. Eby responded by hiring consultants to provide staff with equity and inclusion training. But after attending these training sessions, he stayed silent when a visitor he had invited to the station told a Black reporter that her voice didn’t sound “ethnic.”
We want the station’s leaders to acknowledge that they have upheld white supremacy at the station and take swift action to address the station’s racism. We hope that future journalists of color at the station will not have to go through similar painful experiences. Our listeners deserve high quality, nuanced reporting that serves everyone who lives in the St. Louis region and beyond. After reading this, we’re aware that you might consider pulling your donations, but please be aware that could hurt reporters’ livelihoods more than it would hurt leadership, whose jobs are more secure than ours. We’re asking you to share our story, ask questions, and demand action from leadership at St. Louis Public Radio.
