Going on the record with diversity pledge
CA will diversify further, intensify its coverage of social justice, racism
Nearly two years ago I wrote about The Commercial Appeal’s commitment to diversify its newsroom and cover news and trends relevant to Memphians.
At the time I said The CA newsroom was more diverse than it was the previous year, a mix of veterans and younger reporters, Memphis natives and some newcomers.
Now, we are pledging to diversify the newsroom even further and intensify our coverage of social justice issues and systemic racism as part of the reckoning that has swept through the nation in the wake of a Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd on Memorial Day by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The calls for racial justice echoed loudly in Memphis and Shelby County, where protests lasted for weeks and the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission passed resolutions declaring racism a public health crisis. This is happening against the backdrop of a global COVID-19 pandemic that has had a disproportionate impact on African Americans and Hispanics in Shelby County.
It is imperative that The CA’S coverage reflect the diversity of our coverage area. This is a priority at The CA and across the USA TODAY Network, which has made a commitment to increase the diversity of its newsrooms by 2025 to mirror the diversity of the communities we cover.
Yet The CA falls far short in this important area.
Our coverage area – largely made up of Shelby County and Desoto County, Mississippi – has a population of about 1.4 million, including 42.8% who are white, 47.3% Black, 2.2% Asian and 5.8% Hispanic, according to 2018 census reports. Women are about 52% of the coverage area.
By comparison, The CA’S full-time staff is 72.4% white, 20.7% Black and 3.4% Hispanic. Women comprise 34.5%
of The CA’S full-time staff.
This is a long-term commitment. A more diverse staff will make The CA a better newsroom by enriching our storytelling and ability to understand the area. We’ll also increase our efforts to recruit and hire the best journalists we can find – journalists who resemble the people in the communities we cover.
To be sure, we’ve made significant strides in our coverage of social justice issues and systemic racism. And our staffers consistently seek to reflect the area’s rich diversity.
The CA has been on the front lines covering the local Black Lives Matter protests, and we stepped back from the daily coverage to do broader stories, including a piece on the activists behind the protests and a special report on the troubling phenomenon of vehicles running into protesters.
We also recently dug into our archives to describe The CA’S coverage of the Confederacy, the Civil War and the Jim Crow era as part of The Confederate Reckoning project.
CA reporters, columnists and photographers in recent months produced significant coverage, including a piece about former employees detailing claims of racism and sexism at the Flight Restaurant group, a story detailing the impact of COVID-19 on the Hispanic community and a piece about Evangelical Christian School alumni demanding an end to a “culture of racism” at the Memphis private school. Tonyaa Weathersbee, meanwhile, has largely focused her column on telling compelling stories about social justice and systemic racism.
But we can do more.
We must seek out stories that show the impact of policies and practices that contribute to systemic racism and inequality. We must continue to do watchdog journalism that holds the powerful to account. We also want to create more opportunities for The CA to engage with readers and residents who don’t see themselves or their lives reflected in The CA.
And we want to better reflect our community’s diversity in our Viewpoint section. We are committed to publishing guest columns from a variety of voices, including more from Black, Latino and LGBTQ contributors. Having more diverse voices in our Opinion section will enrich the conversation – and our understanding of each other.
We are making this public commitment so readers will hold us accountable. I want to hear from you when you think we don’t measure up to your expectations, especially in our coverage of social justice and systemic racism. You can find my contact information at the end of this column.
Finally, we are grateful for your continued support, whether you are a longtime subscriber or are considering becoming one. If you want to support our journalism, you can do so by subscribing here: commercialappeal.com/subscribe.