Transformative Transparency Project Update

Myriam Maquez
News Leaders Association Executive Director

NLA is hiring staff, holding DEI Roundtable with partners to improve outreach and participation rate 

We have been busy this summer reaching out to NLA members, partners and supporters to look for ways to streamline the News Leaders Association’s diversity survey to improve the participation rate after several years of disappointing results. We truly appreciate the 303 print and all-digital newsrooms of all sizes that participated in NLA’s 2021 Transformative Transparency Project survey. Overall, 12,781 journalists were included in that count. 

Unfortunately, after conducting a data integrity analysis in late May through mid June, we found various problems with the demographic information (collected from August to October 2021), rendering the current survey results incomplete, and, thus, an inaccurate picture of our industry. The analysis offers a teachable moment that we have embraced with zeal. I want to share what we are doing to remove the data collection barriers and get a true picture of our industry in 2023. 

As Meredith D. Clark, Ph.D., Research Director for the 2021 NLA Newsroom Diversity, noted in her draft report to NLA in late March, “The 2021 survey doesn’t represent a realistic snapshot of diversity in the U.S. There is both over- and under-representation based on where newsrooms are physically located, staff size and publications’ tenure – from legacy media to newer shops. Instead, the 2021 survey underscores the challenges ahead.” 

With our members and partners’ help, though, the challenges are not insurmountable. Our 2021 survey was an ambitious endeavor based on insights collected the past two years from news media and human resources professionals and with the input of 14 journalists representing a cross-section of social identities and professional experiences. Beyond seeking demographic breakdowns on race and ethnicity, as we have done for decades, the 2021 survey also sought to count various other demographic aspects important to journalism’s mission of inclusivity and transparency: gender identity, disability status, the military background of journalists or their families and the demographic breakdown of freelance/contract employees, among other survey categories. These are all salient issues facing our nation and our nation’s newsrooms, but most news organizations do not collect much of that data as yet and many expressed concerns about their employees’ privacy in seeking those answers. 

NLA’s expanded categories also sought to acknowledge the broad diversity within Asian communities, and recognized the U.S. Census distinction between race and ethnicity, adding the ability to specify Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) and including the racial background under the ethnicity category for Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx journalists. Most of our participating newsrooms, however, do not collect any of that data, and most use EEOC categories for their organization’s DEI records. The EEOC counts Hispanics/Latino/Latina/Latinx without taking into account the races that make up that ethnicity. 

Despite the efforts of the NLA diversity team to reach out to digital and print newsrooms nationwide and promote the survey, our response rate was about 10 percent. Outdated contact information due to personnel shifts and robust spam filters also contributed to the poor response rate. 

While NLA staff was diving deep into the survey’s data collection challenges this spring and summer, we partnered with the Colorado News Collaborative to conduct a pilot diversity survey, launched in April, for the 150 or so digital, print and broadcast (television and radio) newsrooms that are part of the CoLab. With the CoLab staff handling outreach to their members, we received feedback from various newsrooms of different sizes and media types on the complexity of the questions and the challenges of collecting the data. More than two months after launch, the participation rate was barely 10 percent. We are now working with the CoLab on a revised newsroom survey that focuses on race and ethnicity as a launch point. The streamlined survey will be sent to Colorado newsrooms in the next few weeks. 

Diversity Roundtable with our partners coming this fall

We are in the process of reaching out to our partner journalism organizations to hold a Diversity Roundtable this fall. Details to come. The goal is to get input on how we can revise the 2023 nationwide survey and find ways to better connect with digital-only and print/digital newsrooms to increase survey participation. 

We are reaching out to affiliate organizations to help us launch future qualitative surveys that will collect the experiences and perspectives of journalists – an effort that will help NLA create a best practices tool kit to help newsrooms improve hiring, promotion and retention in critical areas. Those surveys will offer the qualitative data needed to capture the opportunities and challenges faced by BIPOC journalists, as well as LGBTQ+ journalists, journalists with disabilities and those with military backgrounds in their families, among others. 

Our Board of Directors and staff are thankful for all the support that news organizations and individuals have expressed for diversity, including those who have signed a petition to prompt journalism awards, such as the Pulitzer Prizes, to require DEI survey participation of newsrooms that apply for awards – whether it’s the annual NLA survey or news organizations’ own diversity surveys, which The Washington Post, The New York Times, Gannett|USA Today Network and Reuters already report annually. NLA will continue to work with the Pulitzers and other awards organizations and foundations to find smart and practical ways to contribute and expand DEI initiatives, training and survey participation. 

NLA’s commitment to DEI goes back more than four decades when, in 1978, ASNE took on the annual newsroom diversity survey with the industry’s pledge to have their newsrooms reflect the nation’s diversity by 2000. That goal was not met, as legacy media went through major transformations in the digital age, but many media companies today are working strategically to meet their diversity goals by 2025.

NLA expanding staff to meet DEI challenge

NLA’s next survey will be pivotal in that effort, and we are expanding staff to meet the challenge. We are now in the process of interviewing candidates for a new staff position – Diversity and Training Manager. Please spread the word and share the link provided. Deadline is Sept. 5. We also have been seeking Requests for Proposals from DEI researchers to continue this most important work. 

If you are a member and want to get involved in our Diversity Committee or if you have ideas you would like to share, please contact me at mmarquez@newsleaders.org. All suggestions are welcomed. 

The industry has come a long way since 1978, but not far enough. It is imperative for news organizations to not only cover our nation’s rich diversity but reflect it in their newsrooms. That’s not only the morally right thing to do, but it makes smart business sense. Thank you for supporting NLA’s goal to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are a driving force in staffing and news coverage at newsrooms nationwide. We are up to the challenge.