“What general-market local newsrooms fail to understand is that readership is inextricably tied to representation.”
2020 forced several newsrooms to — finally — reckon with the complaints that journalists of color have lobbed for years: The industry is too white, male, and straight. Our collective failure to recruit, develop, and retain talented journalists who don’t fit into any of the above has resulted in narrow coverage of the world around us. The consequence is Americans’ failure to understand what’s going on in their own backyards.
I say “several” because, while many of the country’s largest print and digital outlets have made headway in diversifying their entry-level hires and executive promotions, the same can’t be said for all the newsrooms outside New York City and Washington.