Diversity: It's About Accuracy

By Doug White
Online Reporter

To provide thorough and accurate stories about your school community, scholastic journalists need to diversify their coverage. The best way to do that is to diversify the organization's staff.

Why is diversity so crucial?

"It's important because human nature, social influences, ignorance and bias conspire to limit who tells the stories and whose stories get told," said Poynter ethics faculty member Keith Woods. "There are forces -- human and social -- trying to limit and exclude. Diversity has to be an active and affirmative action, rather than a passive and periodic act. The pursuit of diversity in staff and content is the pursuit of excellence."

Evelyn Hsu, Poynter's high school program coordinator, said it's important to understand that diversity is not just a black and white issue; it's about valuing points of view that come from all different life experiences.

"Think of geography, gender, class, age, values, ethnicity, and cultural heritage," said Hsu, a former reporter for The Washington Post and past president of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Hsu said that if journalists want their newspaper, broadcast, or website to get attention, they must appeal to the audience's array of interests.

"Those interests are likely to be wide ranging," she said. "No one person knows everything, so you need staff members who have a variety of interests, ideas, and experiences. The greater the variety of people and points of view, the more likely it is you'll have a greater variety of stories and story ideas."

"Recognizing diverse groups in any high school helps make a richer, more comprehensive, and accurate paper," added Victor Merina, a media diversity expert and Poynter fellow. "It expands the breadth of your stories."

But as Merina notes, making greater strides to diversify your coverage and staff will take initiative.

To recruit students from all walks of life, Merina says you can't just post a routine sign inviting everybody to sign up with your organization during new student orientation.

"First of all, the invitation gets lost in a sea of other invitations," Merina said. "And for some people, there is a question of sincerity. Some students don’t believe they are in the 'everybody' category.

"In many ways, groups that feel on the fringes may think 'everybody' means all the other 'acceptable' kids," he said. "What may look to be disinterest is a lack of opportunity or lack of familiarity."

Merina said some minority students aren't familiar with journalism and don't view it as a viable career option because they haven't seen many people that look like themselves on TV or haven't read bylines with names similar to theirs.

Kevin Graham agrees and offers a possible solution that any student news organization could try. The editor of the University of South Florida's student newspaper is planning to publish ads in the paper featuring photos of various staff members and quotes from them about what they do at The Oracle.

"It lets your readers know who you are," Graham said. "It's about putting ourselves out there more to show the faces behind the bylines. People might see that you're from the same ethnic background. It's showcasing the trailblazers."

But Graham said printing house ads alone is not the answer.

"It has to be done on a person-to-person basis," he said. "We have to get out of our chairs and go to activities sponsored by different groups and show interest."

The start of the school year is the best time to make connections with the many clubs in your high school community. When people are in new environments they tend to gravitate to groups they feel most comfortable in, which may not be the student news organization. Visit all sorts of different meetings, introduce yourself and encourage submissions.

But that's just the first step.

"Diversity can't ever stop," Graham said. "It’s a constant check and balance."

For more information on this topic, go to Poynter.org's diversity bibliography.