Spring 2015

Race and Reporting

The news industry has been talking about diversity for decades, but that talk has not always been followed by action. Though the percentage of minorities in the U.S. population continues to climb, few newsrooms have a racial makeup that reflects the communities they cover. In this Nieman Reports cover package, reporters and editors discuss strategies for creating more inclusive newsrooms and how racially diverse staffs can improve coverage.

Cover Photo by Gary Knight
Photo above: Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

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Race and Reporting

Confronting Racism in the Age of Obama

By Issac J. Bailey• Diversity• June 10, 2015

I won’t be sad when another white family moves into the White House. If Hillary Clinton becomes the next president, after a few years, there might be plenty of women looking forward to the day a man retakes the … Read more

Making Black Lives Matter in the News

By Susan Smith Richardson• Diversity• June 10, 2015

After unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer last summer in Ferguson, Missouri, a photo of Brown appearing to throw gang signs began circulating online. In response, hundreds of black people began … Read more

Why Newsroom Diversity Works

By Alicia W. Stewart• Diversity• June 10, 2015

The news industry has been talking about diversity for decades, but the talk, many say, often has not been followed by action. “The needles never really seem to move,” says Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter covering racial injustice for The … Read more

Why Journalists Must Stop Segregating Stories About Race

By Eric Deggans• Diversity• June 11, 2015

It’s tough to turn on a TV news report, pick up a newspaper or surf across a news website these days without seeing a story at least partially affected by race. A report from the U.S. Department of Justice … Read more

Public Radio and the Sound of America

By Adriana Gallardo and Betsy O'Donovan• Diversity• June 11, 2015

When “Tell Me More,” NPR’s talk show about diversity, was canceled in 2014, NPR’s then-ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos observed that Latinos (16 percent of the U.S. population) hold only 5 percent of newsroom jobs at NPR … Read more

Capturing Quiet Acts of Resistance

By Zun Lee• Diversity• June 11, 2015

My objective as a visual storyteller is to connect with individuals and families on an intimate level, especially if this leads to long-term trusted relationships. When collaborators find a level of vulnerability that allows them to reveal unseen aspects … Read more

Building a Better Newsroom

Newsrooms Need to Engage if They Want to See Real Change

By Wesley Lowery• Diversity• June 11, 2015

We’re currently caught in a period of time in this country where we seem to be in an almost perpetual state of conversation about issues of race, ethnicity, and diversity. And we’re having that ongoing conversation while living in … Read more

Enhancing Newsroom Diversity Can Also Expand Audiences

By Ashley Alvarado• Diversity• June 11, 2015

Growing up Asian and Latina in a town that was nearly 90 percent white, it was only natural that I’d develop an appreciation for diversity. I didn’t see me anywhere, and it was my longing for stories that reflected … Read more

Diversity Can Bring Communities Together

By Karen Magnuson• Diversity• June 11, 2015

At the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, we launched a series of investigative reports about two and a half years ago looking at disparities in areas such as housing, education, criminal justice, and jobs. At first, … Read more

Tribalism as a Spur to Newsroom Diversity

By Joshunda Sanders• Diversity• June 11, 2015

journalists might resist the designation, but we are tribal. As wedded as we are to our tribalism, our long days and bellyaching and gallows humor, this very tribalism is what limits the racial and gender diversity of our nation’s … Read more

Having a Diverse Newsroom Makes Coverage Mainstream

By Adrian Carrasquillo• Diversity• June 11, 2015

One thing we do at BuzzFeed that works is hiring Hispanic writers. They don’t have to have a sort of Hispanic beat. David Noriega is a national reporter for us who broadly covers immigrants, but … Read more

If Truth and Credibility Matter, So Must Newsroom Diversity

By Sandra Clark• Diversity• June 11, 2015

Years ago, I was recruited from the University of Kansas for the copy desk by legendary Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and life-long diversity champion Acel Moore. In me, he landed the ultimate diversity hire—African-American, Japanese, and female. And he let … Read more

Mainstream Media Needs More Native American Journalists

By Mary Hudetz• Diversity• June 11, 2015

we don’t have a lot of Native American journalists at mainstream newspapers, and that’s a problem, especially because we may not be that large in number but the jurisdictional and economic power of tribes is so significant. In states … Read more

Journalists Must Train Their Brains to See Beyond Stereotypes

By Dawn Turner• Diversity• June 11, 2015

The high-profile deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray have allowed us to train the spotlight on law enforcement and examine how police officers can be more effective in beleaguered black communities. But, in order … Read more

Features

Is Solutions Journalism the Solution?

By John Dyer• Diversity in Journalism• June 11, 2015

Journalists make careers out of covering the symptoms and causes of bad urban public schools, writing tragedies about students falling through the cracks, scoring scoops from school board investigations, and chasing scandals alongside concerned parents, angry teachers unions, and … Read more

Storyboard

Exploring the Rise of Live Journalism

By Rose Eveleth• From Nieman Reports• May 7, 2015

In 2001, while interning at the Associated Press bureau in Rome, Samantha Gross started working as a guide, giving walking tours of the Vatican, meandering through St. Peter’s Basilica with visitors, telling them stories about the artworks around them. Read more

Watchdog

When Is it Ethical to Publish Stolen Data?

By Helen Lewis• Watchdog• June 1, 2015

When Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed in the French Alps on March 24, the deaths of the 150 people on board were initially assumed to be a tragic accident. But within 48 hours, a transcript of the plane’s voice recorder … Read more