February 18, 2008
1.  Inclusion

Who is on your staff? Who’s on  the freelance list? Who is reading your paper, watching your broadcast, listening to your station or navigating your site? What examples are you holding up as evidence of good work? What sources are being used by the journalists in your organization (books, articles, agencies, websites)?

… and

2.  Combating Prejudice

How are you helping your readers/viewers/listeners learn about the world around them and to recognize and work against prejudice, ignorance and stereotypes that get in the way of good journalism and good management?  How can you help them to communicate better across difference?  How do we help our readers, viewers, listeners and staffers challenge existing news values and newsroom practices that exclude, stereotype and marginalize and mislead?

… and

3.  Improving Craft

How do we help journalists increase truth-telling by bringing in seldom seen faces, seldom heard voices and seldom shown places in your daily reports? Capturing diversity in the presentation of content is key.  How do we help journalists and readers/viewers/listeners recognize when people and perspectives are missing in our daily reports? How do we help them strengthen their craft and understanding so that images and language are sharper, more precise, and fairer to the people we serve?

… and

4.  Leading Change

How are you helping your staffers and readers/viewers/listeners increase the diversity of people that they report on, hear and see?  How are you doing as employers at hiring, recruiting and promoting people with diverse backgrounds?  How are you managing diversity in your shop?  How can you help people see the connection between a diverse team and high performance (Excellence) in the newsroom?

Download a PDF worksheet: Putting Diversity to Work in your news operation Putting Diversity to Work in your news operation

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Kenny founded Poynter's photojournalism program in 1995. He teaches in seminars and consults in areas of photojournalism, leadership, ethics and diversity.
Kenneth Irby

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