Dear JBU community, My name is María Aguilar, a senior photojournalism major at John Brown University. This year, I have the great honor to serve you as the executive editor of The Threefold Advocate.
As a collegiate journalist from Honduras, I am privileged to be part of the 10% of Latinx students who lead newsrooms in the U.S. However, beyond regarding this as an accomplishment, I am deeply concerned for the lack of diversity in newsrooms — both in professional and student newspapers.
According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center, newsroom employees are more likely to be white and male than all U.S. workers. Moreover, approximately 77% of newsroom employees are non-Hispanic whites.
Student newsrooms are no different. Voices, a student program from the Asian American Journalists Association, reported that, of the 73 editors-in-chief at award-winning student newsrooms in 2021, less than 6% were Black, and about 10% were Latinx, which is not representative of their college populations.
Student journalists carry the responsibility to represent their communities and communicate news that matters to them. But how can college newspapers voice the issues of a diverse group of people if there is no diversity in the newsroom? Not only must we expand the reach of our audiences and cover the needs of a diverse community, we must also make sure there is equal access to diverse participation within college newsrooms.
However, there is an unspoken responsibility from readers as well. In order for newsrooms to prioritize diversity and inclusion within newsrooms, there must be a general interest from the audience to diversify their sources of information. For journalists from traditionally marginalized backgrounds to thrive in media, consumers must create a profitable market for diverse newsrooms.
There are several benefits to diversifying our sources of information, starting with our increase in empathy and cultural sensibility. Even as severely underfunded and understaffed, student newsrooms can still be enriching, inclusive and impactful if the need for diversity and inclusion is addressed.
If, as audiences, we place importance in diversity and equal representation, we will also be more informed and cognizant of our neighbors’ struggles. At The Threefold Advocate, we are proud of becoming a more representative source of news in our community. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that there is always room for growth and improvement.
Our commitment to be an inclusive newsroom is ever-growing. We hope to reflect the diversity that we are blessed to experience at JBU. JBU, I also encourage you this year to look at the media with a fresh pair of eyes. I encourage to consume news consciously with a focus in the beautifully diverse communities God has gifted us.