Diversity in the Newsroom?

As a journalist, we are trained to be objective and to also have balance in our stories, but is it ethical to create balance, if the balance isn't there naturally? To take a break from all the racial coverage of the campaign and as I reminisce over my college years, I recall a class in which we discussed if newsrooms themselves are diverse. In the days of old, newsrooms were predominately white, but as the world has become more diverse so have the journalists that cover it. There are many journalistic organizations devoted to minorities, like the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and even the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ). In my opinion this creates a filter to make sure that news going out is balanced and diverse.
Do news stations overwhelmingly portray blacks as criminals and whites as victims of crimes, or are they simply delivering the truth? Are whites often portrayed as the experts and blacks usually just as a witness to an event?
In my opinion, I think newsrooms are trying to become more racially diverse in their reporting, but I think part of that is due to the fact that there are so many more minority journalists, who act as filters. In MOST newsrooms there are a fair number of black journalists. According the the NABJ's, blacks make up "22.2% of the tv news workforce." The article reported that this was an increase from 3 years ago. However while the number of black journalists is increasing, there seems to still be few Hispanic and Asian journalists. In a report published by the Asian American Journalists Association, it showed that Asian Americans only make up about 2.7 percent in local television newsrooms. Which may explain why it's not very often you see an Asian represented in the media.
It's important for newsrooms to be diverse in order for coverage to be diverse. Diversity ensures that stories that are important to every ethnicity is covered and that stories are not racially biased.

Presidential "Race" Mishaps

In keeping with the theme of the presidential race. I've decided to highlight one of the most offensive racial moments. I feel that the media has the ability to fuel public outrage by the amount of coverage they devote to a particular issue. For example one of the first major racial offenses was created by Obama's Pastor, The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was accused of not only making racial remarks, but also degrading remarks about the United States. While this is a newsworthy story, many have speculated that it may have been overblown to promote negative stereotypes about the "black church." Below is a clip of the sermon:



While, this story did indeed deserve media coverage, I am not sure it deserved all the coverage it received. Obama did not make the statement, Wright did. Although he was Obama's pastor, Obama did not force Wright to make those statement, nor did he stand by the statements once they were made public. I don't believe he should have been held liable for statement Mr. Wright made, especially after he refused to support those remarks. Yet coverage continually linked Obama to Wright's statements. In his speech, "A More Perfect Union" delivered on March 18, 2008 he made many references defending himself against the statements made by Wright and explaining but not justifying why Wright may have made those statements. Many have assumed that the media's abundance of coverage on Wright statements have negatively impacted people's perspectives of black churches. It's important that we not let one person influence the perception of the majority and that goes for all races...

Presidential "Race"

The election on November 4, 2008 will be a historical election. Since the beginning the stars of the show have been Hillary Clinton, a woman, and Barack Obama, a black man. From the very beginning race and gender has played a major factor in this election. The media has been consumed with coverage fueled by racial epithets made about or in some cases by the candidates. Many times the media has even been accused of neglecting the important facts and sensationalizing on the race factor.

Many have even said that Barak will win the vote of many blacks simply due to the fact that he is black. This is a pretty harsh generalization. And while I don't fully agree with that statement, I must admit that I myself have heard people admit to voting for Obama because he is black with no recollection at all of his policies.

However, the astounding fact is that for the first time in history, an African American has clinched the democratic nomination and actually stands a chance of becoming America's next president. This in itself shows how far we have come as a nation. Or have we? Just last year we were dealing with the Don Imus issue and this year we could potentially have a black president.

While many are embracing Barack and his rhetoric for change, there are still those who can not quite come to qualms with the idea of having a black president.

At times however, it seems that the news media has become obsessed with the race factor in the election and neglect to report on the race itself. Its became a race about "race."
Back in March, Obama delivered a powerful speech confronting Americans about their racial issues. We should be able to look past color and gender issue and accept the candidates for what they have to offer.