By Martin Guido Reynolds
I sat down at the Lois and Clark room wondering just who would attend this session. After all, those who “get it” the need for diversity have a tendency to congregate and preach to each other. Most journalists know we have to change, expand, and include more people of different backgrounds in newsrooms and upper management; it just doesn’t seem to happen. I liken this aspect of the profession to be that of refrigerated peanut butter stuck in place unable, or as the case seems to be, unwilling to move.
Then, the bumblebees came bumbling in. First was the suave Rich Anderson, the healer Azalea, Mr. Crabs (and I mean that in the most endearing way) Clyde, the woman of circles herself, Peggy and Moltha, who always asks the right questions.
Others joined us later.
We sat and discussed some ways to change the faces of journalists to better reflect the communities we cover. We talked about Fault Lines, as explained by the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
This is an excerpt from a piece written by the institute’s president, Dori J. Maynard explaining where this concept originated:
Fault Lines: Blindsided
By Dori J. Maynard
For five years I’ve been looking at the world through the lens of Fault Lines—exploring how they work, injecting them into almost every topic of conversation. For five years I’ve been preaching the benefits of the Fault Lines concept for journalism. And yet, as I learned several months ago at a conference sponsored by the American Journalism Review, Fault Lines continue to blindside me.
The Fault Lines concept was conceived by my late father, Robert C. Maynard. It is based on the notion that we as a nation are split along the five Fault Lines of race, class, gender, geography and generation. My father believed that in order to bridge these Fault Lines journalists must not only admit they exist but also learn to talk, report and write across them. Acknowledging Fault Lines compels us as journalists to seek out those who present a range of views on an issue.
The full version can be viewed at http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dorimaynard/010521_faultlines/
Here are some ideas to get more people hooked on the dope of journalism at a young age.
1) A journalism festival, where we call young people to action and bring working journalists together with youth and elders to get people excited about going into journalism.
2) Work from the bottom up. We need to start changing the perception of what a journalist is long before journalism students get into college. By then, it’s too late. They’re all doomed…..
3) Examine why people of color and other backgrounds don’t see themselves becoming journalists.
4) Foster excitement in journalism by forming partnerships with organizations right in the community, such as the Boys and Girls Club. Go in there and start a newsletter, and by showing kids how powerful this medium can be, you may turn someone onto journalism that would have never considered it as a career path.
Most of us realized we’d gotten into journalism largely by accident.
We then began to discuss something much deeper, which focused on the existing need to address racism and other social issues in the newsroom. We concluded, as a newsroom family, we must consistently address amongst ourselves the very struggles that exist outside the newsroom. In doing so, we better ourselves and the coverage of our communities.
For me, this was the most powerful element to this discussion. I know getting the kids early is important, as is forming strategic hook-ups. But what about the people existing in the profession today? Are we going to just write them off, or wait until they retire? No. They are the journalistic legacy of our profession and we must get the most jaded and faded into this discussion.
My biggest questions: How do we get people who don’t really think about diversity to care? It’s not that they don’t think it’s important. It’s not that they’re evil and have some nefarious agenda. They just don’t get why it’s so pressing. Those of us who have to navigate the dominant society understand, because we have to in order to survive. Hell, if the fact that it’s the right thing to do doesn’t get you up in the morning, just look at it from a $$$ standpoint. The ethnic press has BOOMED why? Because people of diverse backgrounds don’t see themselves represented in mainstream media or they don’t like how they’re repped. It’s good business to do this.
I guess we just need to figure out a way to get someone to walk in our “two feet.”
Thanks Cecily for letting me use your login. Mine didn’t work.
—Martin Guido Reynolds