Broadening our masthead to reflect our diversity

Perception. Marketers spend a tremendous amount of time and money influencing, protecting, building or spinning this simple yet complicated noun.

Now, 18 months into having the honor of leading the ExpressNews, I spend most of my time working on how our multimedia news organization is perceived. Since March, when many COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, I have spent nearly every lunch and dinner with business, education, nonprofit and civic leaders talking about the Express-News.

I love my job, so it is easy to talk about the vitality of the Express-News and my belief we are an essential piece of a thriving community. I start every conversation the same way. I ask for feedback, and then I ask: “What is your perception of the San Antonio Express-News?”

The good news is the feedback has been wonderful. While we have areas to improve upon, everyone believes we have the best intentions, that our journalism is high quality and essential to the community. The more challenging feedback is the perception that our brand needs work.

There is an ebb and flow to all businesses. We’ve been publishing since 1865, and the speed bump the news business hit between 2008 and 2019 was not the first, nor will it be the last. But let the record state: We are growing subscriptions and ad revenue, and increasing newsroom investment. We are growing, and we employ the most journalists in the Bexar County region. We are the largest media business west of Houston and south of Dallas. While I am proud to talk about our growth, it is a team effort.

A few weeks ago, the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists performed a diversity audit of local San Antonio broadcast anchors. The results were challenging. Last week, our associate editorial page editor, Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson, interviewed me to discuss the diversity challenges the audit uncovered and how questions about diversity apply to the Express-News.

In her column she pointed out something I should have fixed a while ago. While we have done a lot of work to embrace and drive diversity, our print masthead displayed only the names of three white men. Not any longer. Inside the walls of a newspaper, the masthead, which is above, is reserved for the men and women who lead and most influence the content we publish. While Editorin-Chief Marc Duvoisin and Editorial Page Editor Josh Brodesky oversee our news and opinion coverage, our business has greatly evolved. Our masthead fell short of recognizing this evolution and other influential editorial leaders at the Express-News. The backstory to our new masthead is the organic nature of how we have worked, and will continue to work, to build diversity and inclusion.

It is my pleasure to fully represent our three most prominent brands and platforms on our masthead and the men and women who lead the charge. Welcome Nora López, executive editor of news, Preyor-Johnson, associate editorial page editor, Randi Stevenson, executive producer of ExpressNews.com, and Jess Elizarraras, executive producer of MySA.com

As I said last week to PreyorJohnson, “The work of building great teams, diverse teams, is never done. We have a long way to go.”

Perception and reality. We are growing inside and out.