An Examination of Diversity Issues in SE Journalism College Newspapers

Newspaper Research Journal, Summer 2004 by Wickham, Kathleen Woodruff

Diversity issues in college journalism curricula reflect the concerns of professional newsrooms that college faculty prepare the next generation of journalists for working in a multicultural world and a multicultural newsroom. This paper examines college newspapers through the mirror of diversity statements, ethics codes and staffing. Campus newspapers were selected because a campus newspaper is frequently the first place journalism students have to practice their craft under the exposure of a large community.

The issue is timely as college admission practices founded on the concept of encouraging campus diversity face national scrutiny.1 In addition, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications requires programs undergoing accreditation review to demonstrate a commitment to diversity.

The topic is not limited to academia. Professional news organizations are tackling diversity issues through public commitments to have newsrooms reflect the communities they cover and through the adoption of newsroom guidelines that provide employees with strategies on how to diversify coverage, including the hiring of a diversified staff.

Keith Woods, director of diversity programs at Poynter Institute for Media Studies, contends that a commitment to diversity should accompany the core journalism values of fairness, balance, objectivity and accuracy:

A multitude of factors-as base as prejudice and as complex as societal structure-conspire to keep many people and their opinions out of the news. It's our job to make sure we include them.2

Literature Review

Professional media organizations have not ignored diversity even though, as Lehrman noted:

The analyses of the news finds over and over that certain groups get left out. Journalists repeatedly make the error ofportraying America as primarily white and middle class when obviously that is not so.3

The issue is at least a half century old. In 1947 "The Freedom of the Press Report, A Free and Responsible Press" called for: "the projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in society."4 Almost two decades later, the Kerner Commission report, which was put together by President Lyndon Johnson's administration to examine the civil unrest of the mid-1960s, said because the news media failed to "report adequately on race relations and ghetto problems"5 the news was "almost totally white, both in appearance and attitude."6

Newsrooms are not the only places lacking a firm grasp on the meaning of diversity. Levine found that in the university community, "Few had any agreed upon definitions(s) of diversity or any explicit goals to help achieve diversity."7 Journalism students tend to define diversity in terms of race8 while others expand the definition to include gender, religion, ethnic background and disability.9

Little has been written specifically about college newspaper guidelines for covering diverse groups or for increasing diversity representation in the newsroom. In contrast, Lederman and Shea found college newspapers are often criticized for poor coverage of minority groups, and few college newspaper editors are members of minority groups.10 Yet when it comes to diversity staffing, college newspapers appear to be doing a lot better than are commercial dailies.11

With the population of colleges and universities becoming more ethnically, racially, culturally and economically diverse, college newspapers not only protect their credibility by being diverse, but also serve as role models and public conscience for the student body.12

These views are similar to those found by Pease, who reported that news coverage is fairer and more substantive if there is strong agreement in the newsroom about the importance of racial diversity.13 Pease also showed that there is a persuasive connection between quality journalism and dedication to diversity. He noted too that greater attention to staff development and communication of management objectives on diversity is necessary to broaden diversity in newsrooms.

The purpose of this study is to begin to build a foundation for the study of diversity in the university setting. The specific research questions are:

RQ1:

Do Southeast Journalism Conference newspapers have written guidelines for diversity coverage (including, but not limited to race, ethnicity and gender)?

RQ2:

Do college newspapers include a commitment to diversity in an ethics code?

RQ3:

Is the racial diversity of the undergraduate newsroom staffs in the Southeast Journalism Conference comparable to the percentage of minorities in the corresponding SEJ student population?

RQ4:

Is the racial diversity of the undergraduate newsroom staffs in the Southeast Journalism Conference comparable to the percentage of minorities employed by newspapers throughout the United States?

RQ5:

Is the racial diversity of the undergraduate newsroom staffs in the Southeast Journalism Conference comparable to the percentage of minorities in the United States as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau?