Expanding Coverage of Diversity beyond Ethnicity and Race

Abstract

Many journalism educators are seeking better knowledge about how to train to be effective in writing about diverse peoples and viewpoints. In this effort, three documents lay groundwork for diversity reporting -- Hutchins Commission and Kerner Commission reports as well as Standard 12 of Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). In 1947, Commission on Freedom of Press in its report, A Free and Responsible Press, recommended that news media foster discussions on salient social issues while making sure they presented views of different sectors of population. For journalists, this meant, the projection of a representative picture of constituent groups in society. At heart of Hutchins Commission report was concern that democracy could not work effectively if media failed to represent diverse social groups, not only weaknesses and vices, but their common humanity. Two decades later, National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders created by Johnson administration examined causes of civil unrests and riots in United States cities during mid-1960s. Its report, commonly known as Kerner Commission Report for its chair Otto Kerner, pointed out that a fundamental problem of news media had been their failure to report adequately on race relations and ghetto problems. The commission found that television and newspapers portrayed a world which was almost totally white, both in appearance and attitude. In their coverage of African Americans and inner cities, media had not shown blacks in routine contexts and everyday affairs, and they did little to provide depth to racial issues and to promote an understanding of what it could be like to live in poor neighborhoods of country. Some specific journalistic practices were considered problematic. For example, in coverage of inner cities, very few diverse sources were used as journalists relied disproportionately on police and other officials. Numerous recommendations were made by Kerner Commission to improve coverage. Among suggestions, commission called for an intensified effort by media industry to recruit and hire African Americans. In addition, it urged media to make contacts and find more sources in inner cities; observation was made that black media could be especially helpful in this endeavor. Finally, Kerner Commission stressed that African Americans and their lives had to be integrated into different sections of television and newspaper news and that they should not be disproportionately present or absent in any specific kind of news. Finally, just as Hutchins Commission and Kerner Commission reports were crucial documents for national media -- pointing out problems and suggesting changes in ways news is produced-the Standard 12 resolution written by Accrediting Council has important repercussions for journalism departments and education. The initial resolution written in 1984, titled Minorities and Female Representation, sets goals for departments as far as recruiting and retaining minority and faculty. In 1992, Standard 12 was revised and a new component was added emphasizing curriculum. In short, curriculum had to `prepare to understand, cover, communicate with, and relate to a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and otherwise diverse society' (Ruggles,1993). Standard 12 also called for innovative and creative ways for achieving these goals. After revisions to Standard 12 in 1997, emphasis remained on preparing students to serve... a diverse society (ACEJMC, 1997). Despite variety of reports and recommendations, studies have found only minimal improvements in diversity of media and journalism education (Izard, 1990; Lawrence, 1990; Weaver & Wilhot, 1991; Wilson & Gutierrez, 1995). …