Efforts to track diversity in journalism are lagging
ABC News
Despite renewed attention on efforts to diversify hiring in journalism since George Floyd's killing, the ability to measure real progress is proving elusive
NEW YORK -- More than a year after George Floyd's killing focused attention on efforts to diversify newsrooms, the ability to measure real progress is proving elusive.
The News Leaders Association, a journalism trade group, extended the deadline for responses to its survey about employment practices at news organizations for two months, after expressing disappointment about how few are willing to reveal the diversity of their staffs.
The group hopes for as much participation from an estimated 5,900 newsrooms across the country as possible but has had fewer than 250 responses, said Meredith Clark, a Northeastern University professor who is running the survey.
“As a researcher and a journalist, I am deeply discouraged that the journalism industry isn’t as transparent about its workforce in the way that it expects other industries to be transparent about theirs,” Clark said.
