Speaking of Diversity

Commentary

08.02.06

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It had been a long time since I walked into a room and felt totally out of place. But there I was about a year ago in a sea of white faces feeling like I was drowning, and no one threw me a lifeline.

Ironically, I was attending a meeting of northwest U.S. newspaper editors and publishers to talk about diversity. I ended up experiencing first hand just how much my session was needed.

When I walked into the opening reception, everyone seemed somehow connected and engrossed in conversations. I subconsciously scanned the room looking for a familiar face but discovered none.

Then I started searching for individuals who might have left a crack in their circle for me to enter. I again came up empty. After I walked to the left and stood by several groups and later to the right, I found a spot near a wall, thinking someone would notice me and invite me to engage. But no one did.

After what seemed an eternity of awkwardness, I left the reception, opting to wait in the hotel’s lobby for my dinner companion — a graduate of the diversity program I direct — who would be joining me the next day to talk to those same editors and publishers.

Being the only minority in a crowd is something I have dealt with for most of my life. But that experience somehow stumped me because I saw no way into the mix. In hindsight, it became illustrative of what I think remains one of the great challenges facing newspapers today: Somehow, too many editors, publishers and journalists still don’t notice that people unlike them are seeking a point of connection within their organizations and publications.

Consequently, many newsrooms and newspapers still lack the type of diversity that could make them more attractive as places for minorities to work and more profitable because they could attract and retain broader audiences.

Whether diversity is an issue of staffing or readership, I think newspaper managers must come to terms with the reality that most people are not going to come or stay where they don’t find some sense of belonging. Just as I found myself doing at that reception, potential employees or readers of color often will look for clues that say to them, “You are welcome here.” When none is found, they depart.

For employees, it might require seeing other faces that resemble their own. If not that, at the very least they are looking for an opening in a circle that makes room for them, that is intentional in acknowledging they have entered the room.

Readers are no different. They seek a point of connection, something that reflects their views, their experiences, their interests. Sometimes, those are universal, color-blind and inclusive issues, such as the economy, taxes, government and education. But then there are unique expressions of life’s experiences. Some are rooted in race, creed or culture; others revolve around class or age. And the list could go on.

At a time when newspapers continue to grapple with diversity as an employment and readership issue, I think newsroom leaders need to make sure their organizations and published products are receptive to and reflective of those who would enter.

Unlike the event I attended, the industry can ill afford to leave the door unattended. Each day, there should be greeters or symbolic signposts intent on showing people of color that they are welcome. For employees, that can be achieved in discussions and decisions about assignments and coverage. For readers, the stories and images that land on news pages as a result of those deliberations will say all that needs to be said.

Robbie Morganfield, a veteran journalist and educator, is executive director of the Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University and editor of Diversity Matters.