Explore 10 steps that you and your newsroom can take to produce more diverse, equitable and inclusive reporting. This session features a Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellows project completed by Melba Newsome, RJI Fellows Class of 2020-21. Using research and findings from her fellowship, Newsome will outline the necessary steps and lead participants through an evaluation of published journalism for diversity and inclusive reporting. From common challenges to rethinking the whys and wheres of diverse sources to understanding and overcoming barriers, Newsome details what you can do to be more inclusive storytellers.
As Newsome writes, “Inclusive reporting has long been essential to pursuing and publishing the kinds of stories that inform and have long term relevance.” In 2020, however, there was a “concerted effort to hire more Black reporters, include more Black authoritative voices, and recount the real life experiences of people of color impacted by systemic racism. Like the people we report on, journalists are also liberal and conservative, economically privileged and disadvantaged, rural and urban. In the absence of opportunities to reflect on our identities, we can miss our own blind spots around preconceived stereotypes and assumptions about individuals and groups. It is our responsibility to provide fair and equitable reporting of the issues, people and communities we cover. This is not the whole of what we can do but it is the beginning of what we must do.”
This 60-minute webinar is scheduled to begin promptly at 11 a.m. CDT.
Registrants must have both a computer and audio/phone in order to participate.
Thanks to a grant from the Calkins Foundation, there is no cost for WNA members as well as any members of press or news associations across the country.
