TITLE:
The Diversity Experiment at the Metropolitan State University of Denver
AUTHORS:
Alfredo Sanchez, Christopher Jennings
KEYWORDS:
Diversity, Inclusion, Journalism, Education, Ethics
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Journalism and Communication,
Vol.10 No.4,
December
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: This is an untarnished statement after events surrounding Black Lives Matter and the #Metoo movements of the past years. However, when we look at the reality of diversity inside the newsrooms in America, we quickly realize how far we are from a newsroom representing most ethnic sectors of the American population. This article looks closely at how diversity, when incorporated inside the journalism classroom, can improve the quality of news produced by journalists in the newsroom. The hypothesis is simple: an ethnically diverse newsroom is necessary for news organizations to provide a well-researched story that represents different voices. Society is changing. It is becoming more diverse. Newsrooms will fail and be left behind if they do not reflect this change. Joanne Bourgault, President, and CEO of Interviews, believes that: “Maintaining a diverse workforce and providing inclusive content are imperative for the longevity of any media platform” (Bourgault, 2021). Many experts agree that diversity can have a monumental impact on the quality of journalism because a more diverse staff is likely to produce a broader range of stories and perspectives. Our data will ultimately confirm that any successful efforts to improve diversity in the classrooms, like the one taken at The Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU-Denver), will eventually have positive results in enhancing the diversity hiring practices of news media organizations. The news outputs these media organizations develop should accurately reflect the diverse society it serves. In gathering this content, an ethnically diverse journalist can and will contribute to better and more engaging content.