There seems to be an ongoing discrimination and favoritism among the people of media. It seems that white, male, and academic are the attributes that dominate the world of journalism. Not simply by chance but because they were placed there. For a female journalist starting out in the industry, this could be unfair and intimidating but generally this fact is actually affecting the quality of journalism.
The field of journalism needs diversity as pointed out by Tabea Grzeszyk (managing director of the Hostwriter platform) who, together with Corrective have published ‘Why Journalism Needs Diversity’.
This is not to say that white men are not good journalists. However, they are not also society’s representative. In English newsrooms, for example, 94 percent worked white and 55 percent male editors. Such data have so far not even been collected for Germany.
Diversity in Journalism: It’s about time
Get diversity out of the integration corner
To change this state of affairs, she gathers stories from female journalists worldwide in her book. Her reports illustrate, in some very personal stories, how sexism, racism and bullying are expressed in newsrooms.
This is about achieving diversity in every newsroom and not about doing the minorities some favor. Journalism needs multiple perspectives to deliver good quality.
No more overlooked stories
If the vast majority have the same background, the risk of blind spots increases. “I can think of the NSU as an example. For 13 years he undetected racist murders while German journalists wrote articles on so-called ‘kebab murders’. The guilt was suspected among the migrants. ”Various editorial offices may have reacted more sensitively. Grzeszyk believes that they also have a different approach to the protagonists who might open up differently.
The problem would be easy to fix: editorial offices would only have to line up in a more diverse manner. But power would never have been happy to be given up. Grzeszyk: “That’s why we go beyond quality. If the newsroom is not sufficiently diverse, we can overlook stories. ”The book is an attempt to provide descriptive material. Editors could be inspired by how to do it better.
More and more women of different races are aiming for diversity and while not all newsrooms welcome the idea, the cause is being felt throughout the media worldwide. Many of these women are eager to spread the cause, through social media, discounted websites through namesilo promo code, and forums. This is not just pushing women power, this is aiming for equality in all levels – male or female, black or white.