Last night’s #wjchat TweetChat was all about media diversity, in honor of the late Dori Maynard of the Maynard Institute. Chatters discussed everything from continuing Dori’s legacy to what diversity in a newsroom looks like. Click here to read a fascinating discussion all about the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to media diversity.
Tag: diversity
Calendar of Multimedia Training and Events
JUNE
- Since 2002, the Society of Professional Journalists has awarded $10,000 to a person, group or organization that works to preserve one or more of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. If you, a person or an organization you know fiercely protects these rights, submit a nomination for the 2014 Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award by June 22. The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation (SPJ’s supporting foundation) dedicates this honor to anyone who upholds this pillar of democracy, not just journalists. Visit SPJ’s website to learn more, see a list of past honorees and submit the nomination materials. Awards Coordinator Chad Hosier, awards@spj.org, can answer any questions you may have. Submit a Pulliam First Amendment Award nomination today.
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The best in the business will gather for more than 100 panels, hands-on classes and special presentations about covering business, public safety, government, health care, education, the military, the environment and other key beats at the 2014 IRE conference June 26-29, 2014 in San Francisco. Speakers will share strategies for locating documents and gaining access to public records, finding the best stories and managing investigations. Join the discussion about how to practice investigative journalism in print, broadcast, Web and alternative newsroom models.
JULY
- The Native American Journalists Association will hold the 2014 National Native Media Conference held in Santa Clara, Calif. Join more than 300 Native journalists, media professionals and tribal community representatives from across the country at the 30th annual event commemorating three decades of enhancing Native journalism July 10-13, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara. Members of the Native American Journalists Association save $50 on conference registration – become a member to take advantage of the discount.
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The National Association of Black Journalists will hold its 39th Annual Convention and Career Fair in Boston July 30-Aug. 3, 2014. Thousands of journalists, media executives, public relations professionals, and students are expected to attend to network, participate in professional development sessions and celebrate excellence in journalism.
AUGUST
- The National Association of Hispanic Journalists will hold its Annual Multimedia Convention & Career Expo August 7-9, 2014 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. NAHJ has approximately 1,500 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals and journalism educators.
SEPTEMBER
- The Excellence in Journalism 2014 conference in Nashville will host top news professionals from broadcast, print and digital newsrooms around the country September 4-6, 2014.
- For the past 7 years, data enthusiasts from all over the globe have come together for the Tableau Conference. They’ve discovered how to leverage their investment in data analytics, hear what’s next in business intelligence, and network with other like-minded individuals. This year you can expect the same. The conference will host more than 240 sessions, 10 super sessions, 4 engaging keynote speakers in Seattle, Washington from September 8 to 12.
- The Online News Association 2014 Conference & Awards Banquet is the premier gathering of highly engaged digital journalists shaping media now. Learn about new tools and technologies, network with peers from around the world and celebrate excellence at the Online Journalism Awards. ONA is looking for your input on sessions for ONA14, Sept. 25-27, in Chicago. Submit your session proposals from March 20 to April 18. Submit one here
If you have items you wish to include, please email them to me at benet AT aviationqueen DOT COM. Thanks!!
Calendar of Multimedia Training and Events
MAY
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The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism presents the free webinar, “Shadow Money: Unraveling Political Nonprofits’ Funding.” The event takes place May 14, 2014. Russ Choma, money-in-politics reporter at the Center for Responsive Politics, provides basic tips for covering political nonprofits and developing investigative stories. Attend either one-hour session at noon or 4 p.m. ET. Register at the main webinar page: http://bit.ly/shadowmoney
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Applications are now open for The McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism, a new program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism designed to support ambitious coverage of critical issues related to U.S. economy and business. The fellowships will enable experienced journalists to do the deep reporting needed to produce a distinguished investigative, analytic or narrative business story. Each McGraw Fellow will receive a stipend of $5,000 a month for up to three months, along with editorial guidance and assistance in placing stories with established print, radio or digital outlets. Freelance journalists, as well as reporters and editors currently working at a news organization may apply; five years professional experience as a journalist is required. Applications, including a story proposal, work samples and references, will be accepted in the spring and fall of 2014. The deadline for spring applicants is May 15, 2014. For further information, visit www.mcgrawcenter.org or email mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu.
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Are you interested in targeting audiences through social media (e.g., Twitter and Facebook) but challenged to identify or engage with them? The Johns Hopkins University MA in Communication Digital Social Advocacy online, 14-day workshop will address questions like these and more! The workshop is open to communication practitioners around the globe, regardless of whether or not they ever have been admitted to the MA in Communication program. They may work in various fields that aim to stimulate change, such as politics, advocacy, lobbying, social justice, health, digital technologies, and public relations. The workshop will be held May 09, 2014 – May 19, 2014 in Washington, DC.
- Registration is now open for the massive open online course “Investigative Journalism for the Digital Age,” which will last five weeks, starting on May 12 and ending on June 15, 2014. Please read our story about this MOOC and click here to register. The MOOC “Investigative Journalism for the Digital Age” will be taught by four of the best investigative reporters in the United States: Brant Houston, former, long time executive director of IRE (Investigative Reporters and editors), currently a professor and Knight Chair in Investigative Journalism at the University of Illinois; Steve Doig, a veteran investigative journalism and data journalism pioneer, currently a professor and Knight Chair at Arizona State University; Lise Olsen, a veteran journalism trainer, currently investigative reporter at Houston Chronicle; and Michael Berens, an investigative reporter for The Seattle Times.
- A new initiative established at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism will offer fellowships of up to $15,000 to experienced business journalists starting this spring. Applications will be accepted periodically through 2014. The upcoming deadline for applications is May 15, 2014. The fellowship is open to those with at least five years professional experience in journalism, including freelance journalists, as well as reporters and editors currently working at a news organization. Fellowship applicants should submit a focused story proposal of no more than three pages through the accompanying online form.
JUNE
- Hosted by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism’s instruction and guest presentations by world-class trainers, award winning multimedia journalists, storytellers and industry leaders, a intensive two-week program providing hands-on training in essential skills for digital media production will be held June 2-6 & June 9-13, 2014 at the University of California Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism near San Francisco.
- The Global Editors Network hosts the GEN Summit June 11 – 13 in Barcelona. Discover ‘robot journalism’, and be updated about drone journalism and data journalism. This is the event to meet with the media industry influentials and drive business.
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The best in the business will gather for more than 100 panels, hands-on classes and special presentations about covering business, public safety, government, health care, education, the military, the environment and other key beats at the 2014 IRE conference June 26-29, 2014 in San Francisco. Speakers will share strategies for locating documents and gaining access to public records, finding the best stories and managing investigations. Join the discussion about how to practice investigative journalism in print, broadcast, Web and alternative newsroom models.
JULY
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The National Association of Black Journalists will hold its 39th Annual Convention and Career Fair in Boston July 30-Aug. 3, 2014. Thousands of journalists, media executives, public relations professionals, and students are expected to attend to network, participate in professional development sessions and celebrate excellence in journalism.
SEPTEMBER
- The Excellence in Journalism 2014 conference in Nashville will host top news professionals from broadcast, print and digital newsrooms around the country September 4-6, 2014.
- The Online News Association 2014 Conference & Awards Banquet is the premier gathering of highly engaged digital journalists shaping media now. Learn about new tools and technologies, network with peers from around the world and celebrate excellence at the Online Journalism Awards. ONA is looking for your input on sessions for ONA14, Sept. 25-27, in Chicago. Submit your session proposals from March 20 to April 18. Submit one here
If you have items you wish to include, please email them to me at benet AT aviationqueen DOT COM. Thanks!!
Diving into Data
By Crystal Garner, DJTF Intern
In the ever-changing age of digital media, data visualization is king.
Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine, an online outlet providing innovative information to Web designers and developers, describes it as a way “to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means.” Simply put, it turns information into something visually appealing.
While one of the most sought after skill sets in newsrooms across the globe is spiking in use by news organizations, marketing firms and internet companies, the number of journalists of color who are capable of producing data visualizations is flatlining. Why is it that journalists of color are not flocking to this type of storytelling? If it’s because many don’t understand what it is, the NABJ Digital Journalism Task Force is aiming to change that.
On April 29, 2014 from 11a.m. to noon, NABJ Digital hosts a Twitter chat with Faye Anderson of Tracking Change, an advocacy platform to turn data into action; Zach Seward of Quartz, a digital news outlet for business people; and Samantha Sunne of Hacks and Hackers, a grassroots journalism organization. The panelists will answer your questions about diving into data visualization.
The task force decided to put this Twitter chat together as part of its mission to ensure that NABJ’s members have all the skills they need to be the best digital journalists they can be, said Tracie Powell, DJTF co-chair. Since big data is changing the way journalists tell stories, making sure they have the tools and the know-how to use them is important, she said.
“Being able to process data, understand it, extract value from it and communicate it is increasingly a hugely important skill for journalists in helping citizens understand pressing issues using charts, graphics, maps and more,” she said. “Data visualization is not only important because it helps journalists tell better stories, it is important in terms of career advancement.”
To follow the Data Visualization Twitter Chat, use hashtag #nabjdata.
CNN’s Mira Lowe talks jobs, journalism and diversity
Crystal Garner, DJTF Intern
As part of a series of Twitter chats hosted by The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, Mira Lowe, CNN Digital’s Senior Features Editor, discussed careers in journalism and diversity in the industry.
The TweetChat, which took place on Wednesday, featured Lowe, a media diversity leader who previously served as editor-in-chief of JET magazine.
According to The Maynard Institute’s website, the organization aims to “promote diversity in the news media through improved coverage, hiring, business practices, and training programs that equip journalists with leadership, multimedia skills and subject expertise for news organizations across platforms.”
Under this description, Lowe was the perfect Twitter guest to answer questions on employment and diversity in journalism.
As the Tweets rolled in, so did Lowe’s responses.
For the full Twitter conversation, follow TeamMije on Twitter.
Fixing the Diversity in Journalism Problem
This week NABJ Digital Co-chair Tracie Powell spoke with Gabriel Arana, senior editor at The American Prospect, about the lack of diversity in journalism, particularly among digital media startups such as Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com and Ezra Klein’s Vox.com.
Video courtesy of BloggingHeads.TV.
Never Say ‘We Can’t Find Talented Journalists of Color’ Again
By Tracie Powell, Co-Chair and Benet J. Wilson, Vice President, Education of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Digital Journalism Task Force
Now that the lack of diversity at journalism startups has been sufficiently underscored by others, this is the perfect opportunity to provide a set of principles to follow for those interested in creating diverse newsrooms.
Diversity is not just about checking a box. In light of demographic changes that show the white, male audience is dwindling, diversity in newsrooms is good business. It just makes sense.
For some these guidelines will be a reminder, but for others they can serve as a new source of information that we hope you’ll make a permanent part of your company’s recruiting process and employee retention efforts. At the very least, these guidelines should go a long way in helping digital media funders and founders to never again say: “We can’t find talented journalists of color.”
1. We’re not here to bash or criticize, we’re here to help
The NABJ Digital Journalism Task Force has a strong record of providing free training for anyone who wants to participate and serving as a resource, mainly through the @NABJDigital Twitter account using the #mediadiversity and #journojob hashtags, for those looking for diverse candidates to fill jobs. Companies like NPR, American Public Media, CNN, TBS and NBC, to name a few, have reached out to us directly to promote their jobs and pass along qualified candidates.
In addition to @NABJ Digital, digital startups also get the resources and strong network of the Online News Association, with ONA board member Benet Wilson, who chairs the Diversity Committee, and DJTF Co-Chair Tracie Powell, who serves as a committee member. We are more than willing to meet with anyone for a friendly conversation and information on how we can help. We can meet with folks in person or via Google Hangout.
2. Build a more inclusive network
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Talk with and partner with organizations and individuals with community connections that reflect the demographics that you serve or want to serve, including organizations like NABJ.
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Go to diversity conventions yourself. Do not depend on recruiters. “My old boss at the Boston Globe came to a National Association of Black Journalists convention to actually meet people he never heard of, and they were talented. He hired two people and still had many on his list,” said Greg Lee, immediate past president of NABJ. “You have to get out and expand your personal pool.”
- Lisa Williams, Program Chair of the Online News Association’s 2013 conference and Director of Digital Engagement at the Investigative News Network, wrote in her Life and Code blog, “Any call for diversity in hiring in the information industry (and in that I include the tech industry and the news industry) is usually met with a lament at how HARD it is to find female candidates, or candidates who are people of color. Except for one thing. It’s not. All we had to do was….ask. That’s it.”
3. Say “YES”
Accept invitations to participate in panel discussions or workshops before diverse audiences where you can talk up your organization and the benefits of working at your company. In the past three years, the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University has done presentations with DJTF at NABJ conventions and held an online Q&A for potential applicants with DJTF, in conjunction with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Asian American Journalism Association. As a result of that and other outreach efforts, Knight has reported seeing more diverse applicant pools for its fellowship, according to the program’s director, Jim Bettinger.
4. Step outside of your comfort zone
We naturally tend to gravitate toward those we’re most comfortable with. For white men, that means mingling with other white men; the same holds true for people of color. That paradigm must be broken, especially in today’s newsrooms.
The most powerful line in a piece recently written by Shani O. Hilton, deputy editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed, for Medium was this one: “The journos of color and women aren’t networking with white dudes doing the hiring because it isn’t in their DNA,” she wrote. “Call it the Twice as Hard Half as Good Paradox: Many of us are so busy working twice as hard and hoping to get noticed that we don’t do the networking that seems like bullshit but is actually a key part of career advancement.”
It is true that more journalists of color must pull back from their daily grind to network in order to ensure career advancement. But startups and venture capitalists must do the same thing. This effort can not, and should not, be one-sided. Go to mixers and seek out journalists of color. Go up to them, shake their hands, ask about what they are doing now, what they’d rather be doing instead or what they want to be doing in five years. You might meet your next game-changer.
5. Read publications and writers outside of those you normally read
Just as aspiring writers are taught to read those more established in order to improve their craft, editors need to do the same thing. Not only because it helps you identify new talent, but because it also clues you in about issues and ways of telling stories that you may be missing. You never know what gems you will come across. Some publications we recommend are ColorLines, Richard Prince’s Journal-isms and Racialicious.
6. Ask employees for referrals
Talk with managers, but more important, talk with your rank-and-file employees, who likely know others who are in the job market. Offer rewards for successful referrals, but don’t rely solely on employee networks, which may also be white and male.
7. Retaining is just as important as recruiting
Once you recruit diverse job candidates, keep them by offering benefits such as on-site daycares, non-gendered bathrooms, and quiet rooms employees can use to meditate or recite daily prayers. Offering these services also lets potential employees know that your company accommodates gender, family and religious diversity.
8. Make a seat at the table
Don’t just send employees of color to conventions as recruiters just to show that you have employees of color; if you send them, make sure they have hiring authority. If your company does not have diverse candidates in key positions, then engaging diverse high-level employees in the recruiting process — even if they do not have hiring authority — can be helpful. Having someone at the table is important.
Even if you do not connect with NABJ Digital, you should be, at the very least, posting and connecting with other job boards that specialize in reaching diverse job candidates, including NABJ and JournalismNext. If you are not doing this, then you’re not really looking.
You can reach Tracie Powell at tracie.powell@gmail.com and Benet Wilson at benet@aviationqueen.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Why NABJ Members Should Apply For Google Fellowships
Where to start? First I must tell you that I didn’t wind up becoming a journalist. But like others, I understand the reasons people want to join Google Policy and Journalism fellowship programs, and who they are when they leave them.
Not only is it a major accomplishment to be chosen, it is an affirmation of the path that the potential journalist, policy maker, or entrepreneur chooses to take. I’ll tell you a little bit about why I think it’s important that we see more men and women of color apply for and complete these programs.
It’s an incredible opportunity to align oneself with the country’s brightest and most forward thinking. It’s also a chance to work for a premier organization in a new city, surrounded by brilliant people. But more important, it’s a chance for people of color to let their voices, ideas and stories get heard in the ongoing conversation about the changing media landscape, technology and innovation.
I don’t have to tell many of you that people of color are underrepresented, uncommon and non-existent in journalism and technology circles. Undoubtedly, the lack of diversity in technology and media are problems spiraling out of control as we swiftly move into the digital age. New policies, legislation, and technologies are made for everyone in America, so everybody’s voice should be taken in account before decisions are made, right?
Unfortunately, that isn’t exactly how it is right now. There simply aren’t enough people of color working on these issues. And the people that create rules might not be the most connected to common folks, let alone people of color. What happens when the laws that govern the next 100 years of innovation and technological advancement forget about us? Or the stories written about the impact of new technologies don’t express our ideas?
Now, I know I’ve painted an incredibly stark picture of what the country could look like with a lack of diversity in technology. For those of you that know me personally, you know that this is one of my favorite subjects. But there is hope.
Programs like the Google Policy and Journalism Fellowship are absolutely invaluable to helping to address this deficit. The fellowships are one way for minorities to introduce themselves to a new world of ideas and pressing issues. Whether it’s writing about or advocating for telecommunications, privacy, patent policy or copyright reform, our voices are needed and our stories are critical to shaping balanced and effective conversations leading to change.
The best part about this is that organizations, legislative offices, newsrooms, and regulatory agencies across the country want people of color. As a person who works in this space it always amazes how many students don’t take advantage of the untapped, well-paying and incredibly rewarding line of work that is technology policy and journalism. The Google Policy and Journalism fellowships are a fast track to getting a foot in all of the right doors. I strongly encourage you to apply. You will be very surprised to see how many of you are chosen.
And finally, how do you apply and what exactly does Google want?
Google Policy Fellowship
We’re looking for students who are passionate about technology, and want to spend the summer diving headfirst into Internet policy. Students from all majors and degree programs who possess the following qualities are encouraged to apply:
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Demonstrated or stated commitment to Internet and technology policy
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Excellent academic record, professional/extracurricular/volunteer activities, subject matter expertise
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First-rate analytical, communications, research, and writing skills
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Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and efficiently, and to work smartly and resourcefully in a fast-paced environment
Fellows will receive a stipend of $7,500 for 10 weeks during the summer of 2014 (June-August). Exact dates of the fellowship will be worked out by the fellow and host organization.
Google Journalism Fellowship
We’re looking for students, based in the US, who are passionate about journalism and the role that technology can play in the industry and the pursuit of their craft. Students from all majors and degree programs who possess the following qualities are encouraged to apply:
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Demonstrated or stated commitment to journalism – especially in the fields of data driven journalism or freedom of expression online
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An interest in exploring and creating business models to help the industry in the digital age
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Excellent academic record, professional/extracurricular/volunteer activities, subject matter expertise
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First-rate analytical, communications, research, and writing skills
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Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and efficiently, and to work smartly and resourcefully in a fast-paced environment
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Applicants with some experience with HTML, Javascript or another web programming language and experience with Microsoft Excel or a database system is an advantage.
Fellows will receive a stipend of $8,000 for 10 weeks during the summer of 2014 (June-August) and a travel budget of $1,000.
The Fellowship will start on June 9, 2014 with the first week at Google in Mountain View, California. Fellows will join their host organization on June 16 2014 and finish on August 8, 2014.
Work hard!
Bartees Cox, Jr. is Director of Media Relations for Public Knowledge, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that works to preserve the openness of the Internet and the public’s access to knowledge; promotes creativity through balanced copyright; and upholds and protects the rights of consumers to use innovative technology lawfully. Bartees joined Public Knowledge as a Communications Associate in August 2012 after interning with Free Press as a Communications and Policy Assistant. While at Free Press he worked on media ownership, spectrum policy and municipal broadband issues. Prior to joining Free Press, Cox was public relations intern at Crosby-Volmer International Communications, The Urban League and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. His passion for intellectual property and media reform stem from watching minority communities’ ability to succeed lessen due to lack of broadband-based technologies and services. Bartees received a B.A. in Public Relations from the University of Oklahoma where he was a Gaylord College fellow. He serves on NABJ’s Communications Committee.
2013 NewU Startup Competition
Unity Journalists for Diversity has selected 11 owners of media startups for its 2013 NewU Startup Competition. The finalists posted video pitches for their companies on unityjournalists.org for the chance to win one of two $20,000 seed grants. The four finalists who are members of NABJ talk about their companies and how the grant will help take them to the next level:
Kathy Times is the co-founder of the website Wheretogo411.com, a site that is basically the Yellowpages.com for the African American community. Times, a former NABJ president, says her site is designed to provide African American businesses and consumers with a way to connect. “It really is a strategy for improving the lives of African American business owners as well as urban communities and African American communities around the country,” Times says. “We wanted to design a site that would make it easy for major buyers as well as consumers to do business with African American businesses. The NewU funding is so important because we need to build our awareness of what we’re doing. We anticipate launching a national campaign to make sure business owners are aware of the site and they know they can put their business on the site.”
Marissa Evans founded the online health magazine InHue, a magazine that focuses on the health needs of women of color. Evans was inspired to create InHue as a means of giving women of color a voice when it comes to health issues. “I started InHue because other general women health magazines were not adequately covering racial health disparity issues” she said. “Too often, I felt that women of color were put in women’s health articles as an afterthought. I started InHue to give women [of color] a “go to” health magazine that they could relate to and that was really made for them through and through.” If she wins, Evans plans to use the grant money to improve InHue’s website and sponsor women’s health events.
Ariana Proehl founded the online media network Know This! TV in 2011 because she was fed up with seeing the negative stereotypes of Black women on reality television. Proehl took the network’s signature program, Know This! with Ariana, out on a 14-city tour, Proehl found that there is an audience for positive media. “I started my online talk show because I knew that we could do better as people of color; in particular, women of color.”Her show features people in politics, entertainment, business, fashion music and other fields. “The common thread of folks that I feature on my show is that they live their purpose and not so much money or fame.”Proehl envisions her website becoming similar to Oprah.com in that it will feature her talk show as well as original programming. “[With the grant], I’m looking to continue my talk show and develop and fund the production of other original show ideas that would be moving along in that same thread of just diving deeper into inspiration resources.”
Eunice Cofie founded EthnicDermMedia, a multimedia company that provides skin health information to people of color. “EthnicDermMedia develops campaigns for departments of health and create mobile platforms for consumers” Cofie says. “It’s a technology-based multimedia company that educates the consumer and also trains dermatologists and other skin professionals about ethnic skin because there’s not a lot of information out there about ethnic skin.” Cofie plans to use the grant money to continue developing her platform as a space for science and medical journalists to get information about ethnic skin out to the public. “We want to bridge the gap between dermatologists and consumers and provide the consumer with information about ethnic skin diseases, treatment and empower them to know about the skin they’re in.”
Voting for the 2013 NewU Startup Competition ends on Friday, November 29th at midnight. So vote here now!
A Conversation with Michael Bolden, Candidate ONA Board
As the Editorial Director of the Knight Foundation, Michael Bolden gets a chance to see what’s happening in digital journalism a little earlier than the rest of us.
“The Knight Foundation is a great perch from which to see what’s going on in digital journalism,” he said. “We see a lot of things that people who are involved in daily journalism aren’t able to. It’s a privilege to work here.”
Bolden is running for a seat on the Online News Association’s board. He has been a member of ONA for four years and was in daily journalism as an editor for 22 years, most recently for the Washington Post. He was involved in that newspaper’s move to digital and saw the challenges that come when news organizations are publishing online.
But while there have been growing pains as news organizations and journalists themselves try to expand their reach into the online world, these are pains that must be endured to stay relevant, Bolden says.
“Journalists need to be involved in the digital world,” he said.
That belief permeates his agenda for ONA service.
If elected, Bolden hopes to help journalism educators by making sure that they have the most up to date information and tools possible to help their students prepare for a challenging job market. Helping newsrooms connect with new digital storytelling applications and the training to utilize them properly is also something he’s hoping to accomplish if elected.
But most of all, Bolden hopes to be a champion for diversifying the digital journalism pool as a member of ONA’s board. As it is in much of the news media, the representation of people of color in the digital media world is relatively small.
It’s a multifaceted problem, Bolden admits. One facet is the economics of journalism. Newsroom managers faced with dwindling bottom lines and pressure from corporate tend to sacrifice diversity and the variety of storytelling perspectives it provides when making cuts, he said.
But another reason why there isn’t much diversity in digital media is because, well, digital journalists, unlike businessmen, teachers and mailmen, aren’t necessarily the people in your neighborhood.
“It’s an issue of modeling,” Bolden said. “When you’re a first generation college student, you tend to look at the careers that the people before you have followed. You see teachers, lawyers and ministers. You don’t see a lot of computer scientists. It’s not seen as a viable option.”
Members in good standing of the Online News Association can vote until Nov. 1.
NABJDigital Blog 