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Diversity

What Journalism Needs Is Not More Diversity, But Less White Supremacy

June 21, 2020 Janine Jackson, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. , , ,
As police violence against Black people and those who would rise in their defense forces a national engagement—of a sort—with the reality of white supremacy in our institutions, the widening recognition that the batons and tear gas are just one part of it, that there is more than one way to choke the life out of a people, meant that it was just a matter of time before news media would need to acknowledge the call coming from inside the house. So we have the week just past—wherein we learned that numerous powerful media figures have not just tweeted, joked or dressed up as…but have enforced policies and practices and pay differentials that, deepbreath, do not reflect the values they now hold, they now understand to be deeply hurtful, they only wish they’d been alerted to sooner, they are taking time to reflect deeply upon, they are committed to doing better about going forward, they look forward to be challenged on, and about which, heaven only knows, they are listening.

The Con Of Diversity

July 9, 2018 Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com ,
In 1970, when black students occupied the dean’s office at Harvard Divinity School to protest against the absence of African-American scholars on the school’s faculty, the white administration was forced to respond and interview black candidates. It asked James Cone, the greatest theologian of his generation, to come to Cambridge, Mass., for a meeting. But the white power structure had no intention of offering Cone a job. To be black, in its eyes, was bad enough. To be black, brilliant and fiercely independent was unpalatable. And so the job was given to a pliable African-American candidate who had never written a book, a condition that would remain unchanged for the more than three decades he taught at Harvard.

Diversity Revolt At The Wall Street Journal

March 29, 2017 Nathan McAlone, www.businessinsider.com , ,
By Nathan McAlone for Business Insider - Reporters and editors at The Wall Street Journal have signed a letter to management expressing concern about the roles of women and people of color in the newsroom. "Diversity in the newsroom is good for business and good for our coverage," says the letter, which was obtained by Business Insider. "We would like to see The Journal undertake a more comprehensive, intentional and transparent approach to improving it." The letter comes at a time of dissent at The Journal, when leadership has been internally criticized for being soft on President Donald Trump, and over a year after the employees' union published details of pay disparities in the newsroom.

Diversity Is Not Enough And, Done Alone, It Can Be Counterproductive

February 14, 2017 Jacqueline Patterson, www.huffingtonpost.com ,
By Jacqueline Patterson for The Huffington Post - Three days ago I had yet another conversation where well-intended, but poorly implemented diversification efforts have fallen short and resulted in harm. I’ve either directly experienced, or have been the listening ear for, way too many stories of lamentation from the sole person of color employee, board member, steering committee/advisory group member, coalition member, or even panelist/speaker in various environmental organizations/coalitions/settings. The divisions in our society, exposed and rubbed raw by recent events, urgently call for a deeper level of intent and action on building processes, organizations, movements, and systems that are rooted in anti-racism and anti-oppression.

After Days Of Protests, Students Occupy Building At Occidental College

November 18, 2015 Jason Song and Teresa Watanabe, www.latimes.com , ,
By Jason Song and Teresa Watanabe for Los Angeles Times - After several days of protesting Occidental College's handling of diversity issues, students occupied an administrative building Monday, demanding that the school president step down if officials don't take such steps as creating a black studies major and hiring more minority faculty. The actions come after weeks of student protests throughout the nation, including at the University of Missouri, where the president and chancellor resigned, and Ithaca College in upstate New York and Yale University.

After People’s Climate March: Diversify Funding Of Climate Justice

November 17, 2014 Robert Bullard, www.opednews.com , , ,
Much attention in the last couple of months has been devoted to the lack of diversity in mainstream environmental organizations. While just under 40 percent of the U.S. population is people of color, they make up less than 16 percent of employees at environmental institutions. It is important to note that in 2042 people of color are expected to be the majority of our population. In 2012, a decade later, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy produced its report, Cultivating the Grassroots: Winning Approach for Environment and Climate Funders, that found environmental funders spent $10 billion between 2000 and 2009. However, only 15 percent of environmental grant dollars benefited marginalized communities, and only 11 percent advanced "social justice" strategies.
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