practices. Management and individual journalists alike must be willing to receive criticism. It’s important to realize, as Joe Heim said, that “even if I'm sympathetic to issues, that I'm not as fully immersed in them as many other people are.”
While these recommendations are not a comprehensive list, they can serve as a starting point for how journalists can conceptualize their responsibilities and roles in providing fair, accurate and contextualized race reporting. Further research could formally explore how news organizations communicate diversity and inclusion values, how much funding is spent on diversity initiatives and how newsroom representation has changed over time at local, regional and national papers. While anecdotal evidence suggests these findings would not be overly positive, having the data would be helpful in creating an actual standard to strive toward.
As America becomes increasingly racially diverse, newsrooms must do a better job at representing the diversity of their communities. Not only in the makeup of their newsrooms, but also in the makeup of their content. By studying current coverage and anecdotal best practices, we can move closer to a future where diversity is more than just a stated value in news media organizations.
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