EDITOR'S NOTE
The Cohort community is full of change makers. So maybe you, like me, have been inspired by journalists demanding action within their institutions over the last couple weeks, whether that means exposing editors who discriminate against Black reporters, pressuring newspapers to publish their diversity statistics, convincing leadership to remove mugshot galleries, reviving the newsroom diversity committee, or asking that Juneteenth be recognized as a company holiday.

I’m also keen to learn more about women who start over from scratch. Like previous contributors Emily Ramshaw

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and Cristi Hegranes

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, today’s Cohort columnist saw opportunity in the gaps left by mainstream media and decided to create something new. Snigdha Sur founded The Juggernaut in 2018 to highlight stories about the South Asian diaspora. She shares with us her thoughts on how to prioritize diversity in a different way.

— Mel Grau, editor, The Cohort

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Mainstream media has always had a diversity problem. That’s why I run my own newsroom.
By Snigdha Sur

This past week hit a tipping point for mainstream newsrooms. The New York Times published a sensationalized op-ed that threatened to endanger lives; the editorial page editor resigned. Variety’s editor-in-chief stepped down after members of her newsroom pointed out that she wasn’t doing enough to promote diversity. The Philadelphia Inquirer executive editor bowed out after the paper published a headline that purported that buildings mattered more than Black lives. Some Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editors refused

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to let a Black reporter cover the protests, claiming that she had already expressed her opinion in a tweet.

Though the biases laid bare by these incidents were not surprising, the fact that many editors faced public scrutiny might be a sign (finally) of changing times.

According to Pew, American newsrooms do not reflect

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the U.S. at large — 77% of employees are non-Hispanic white. They are also more likely to be male — 61% are men, compared with 53% of all U.S. workers. Journalism’s gatekeepers are older and whiter.

Pew also reports that younger newsroom employees have greater racial, ethnic and gender diversity than their older colleagues. Yet, even this change isn’t fast enough. For example, Vox.com, a much younger publication, still

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doesn’t reflect the U.S. at large.

This is why we’re seeing the rise of new publications — such as Blavity

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, Remezcla

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, or SupChina

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— created by folks who don’t feel served by mainstream media. It’s also one of the reasons I built my own newsroom.

Before I started The Juggernaut

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— a publication that reports on South Asia and its people around the world, with a focus on the South Asian diaspora in the U.S. — I did a lot of research. The first thing I noticed when I spoke to journalists was how much they wanted something like this to exist. They would constantly pitch stories about their communities to editors, only to be told that the stories were too “niche” or that “nobody would care.”

It was clear that to create a newsroom from the ground up, it certainly shouldn’t look like what it did before.

Larger audiences aren’t always better
Some of the most popular funding models for new media companies — venture (or Kickstarter) capital, grants, ads — incentivize larger, broader audiences. (Much of this capital still goes toward non-minority founders.) Stories off the beaten path or about minority communities are easy to dismiss.

At The Juggernaut, we didn’t want our editorial vision to be sacrificed in the pursuit of chasing universality or clicks. We opted for a subscription business model, which can often be a more sustainable path in serving a more targeted audience or a specific community.

To serve this very audience, we needed to capture the voices of our community, which forced us to be thoughtful about our newsroom from the beginning. The result? Our editorial leadership is 100% non-white. Over 90% of our freelance journalists are people of color; over 80% identify as female.

That doesn’t mean to say we’re done — the work of building a diverse news organization never really ends.

Diversity isn’t just racial diversity
The definition of diversity changes based on the context of the audience you serve.

For a publication catering to South Asian stories, we also have to ask ourselves: Are our writers and sources diverse when it comes to their religion? Their sexual orientation? Their socioeconomic background? Their gender? Their political views? Their country of origin? Their current city?

To answer these questions, we measure writer stats (bearing in mind what our writers will share with us). One key lesson in my business school accounting class: “You can’t control what you can’t measure.”

Can’t hire? Find new freelancers (and listen to their pitches)
During downturns, publications tend to cut their freelancer budgets. But even a modest freelancer budget (for, say, one guest writer a month) helps diversify the usual roster of voices. Use that opportunity to ask people for referrals to writers you don’t know. When new writers pitch and you don’t understand why a story might be interesting, do more research. Before saying “no,” ask: What do they see that I don’t? Loop in guest editors with fresh eyes if you need.

Never be done
The results often speak for themselves — it’s important to have a pulse on reader engagement. For each article, we track views, clicks on the subscribe button, and subscribes. This allows us to test our editorial hypotheses: Which articles surprisingly worked, surprisingly didn’t, and performed just as we thought? When you close the feedback loop, it gives you more confidence to commission new ideas and new writers.

We also speak to eight to 10 customers every week for 30 minutes each (some are surprised we reach out!) to understand who they are, what they want to read, what we did well, and where we need to keep improving.

This work is exhausting. Not everyone will be happy with you at any moment of time — but you can keep getting better, even if it isn’t immediately visible.

Keep listening.
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OPEN SOURCE
Snigdha’s sources of energy and inspiration. You can follow her at @snigdhasur (Twitter

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+ Instagram

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).

What’s your pump-up song right now?

"My Fit

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" by Mad Circuit, TeaMarrr (heard it once on "Never Have I Ever" and couldn't stop listening to it).

Who is your work wife?

It's a bit literal. My partner. He joins our weekly strategy meetings and pushes me every day.

What’s your biggest work fail?

I was feeling resentful at a company I was working at; I should have quit sooner.

What’s your go-to work snack?

Mangoes (the fresh kind)! And chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in the summer.

What’s helping you focus lately?

Taking evening walks (mask on!), especially by the water in New York (and calling friends while walking).

What have you consumed lately that actually consumed you?

Usually an amazing fiction book. A few I read last year that I couldn't put down: “An American Marriage

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” by Tayari Jones; “Circe

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” by Madeline Miller; “Sing, Unburied, Sing

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” by Jesmyn Ward; the “My Brilliant Friend

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” quadrilogy by Elena Ferrante.

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FREE MENTORING
Do you need help moving this conversation forward at your organization? Here are three mentors from Digital Women Leaders who can coach on diversity in coverage and inclusion in the newsroom:

Megha Satyanarayana

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, senior editor at Chemical & Engineering News. A scientist and journalist, Megha can also help with breaking down silos.

Mpho Raborife

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, news editor at News24 in South Africa. Americans will have to get up early to attend Mpho’s office hours, but she can give you insight from the Employment Equity Forum, where she and her team monitor the company’s commitment to redressing injustices of South Africa’s pre-democratic past.

Elizabeth Dunbar

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, reporter at MPR News. She’s also a union leader within her newsroom and can coach on advocating for others.

FIND YOUR MENTOR

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COHORT IN CONVERSATION
I look forward to hearing any and all feedback, Cohort readers. I would love to keep conversations like this going. Just reply to this email to share your perspective.

If you prefer to simply listen, here are a couple panel discussions that I found thought-provoking and worth more screen time:

How to fight racism and not get fired from your mainstream media job

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from the Los Angeles chapter of NAHJ

How journalism can begin to dismantle its systems of racism

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from the Knight Foundation

Many of you were delighted to hear about Cristi Hegranes, the CEO who gave birth during the pandemic and went back to work days later, in the latest Cohort

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. I also appreciated this tweet from Robyn

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: “More power to this mom for doing what works for her. I think we just have to remember (or at least I do) that it's not the expectation for every new mom.” Preach! Flexibility is key for any maternity leave, but it’s important that policies are in place that allow parents time off to heal and bond without pressure to come back early.

Until next time, y’all.

- Mel

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Do you want to sponsor or write for The Cohort? Email Mel Grau at [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

. I also like snail mail:

801 Third Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701

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