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Susan Smith Richardson assumed the chief executive role at the nonprofit investigative journalism organization Center for Public Integrity two months ago. She is the first African American person to hold that title in the center’s 30-year history.
Core to her leadership mission is prioritizing and championing diversity. Inclusion and diversity are issues important to me, to Poynter and to all of us in the Cohort. But most of the time, I feel like the progress we’re making is not even close to enough. Susan sheds light on why, and how people at all levels of leadership can approach change.
— Mel Grau, editor, The Cohort
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I learned three lessons about newsroom diversity 30 years ago. They still apply.
By Susan Smith Richardson
My first newsroom diversity meeting was like going to divorce court. Some people avoided making eye contact. Others gave the facilitator side-eye as she explained institutional racism.
It was the ’90s. I was a mid-level editor, a position with a lot of responsibility and little power, squeezed between the conflicting demands of top editors and reporters. What was then the American Society of Newspaper Editors was pushing for newsrooms to mirror the demographics of the country.
 Shifty looks and side eyes won’t make racism go away. (Vectorstock/Sara O’Brien)
As a black woman, I was committed to creating more inclusive coverage, but I was tired of trying to lead from the middle. Explaining to reporters why their stories needed more inclusive sources or expressing to editors in daily news meetings why a story frame could be offensive to people of color kept me in a state of hyper-vigilance.
Nearly 30 years later, in a more racially diverse nation under a president who spits racist insults on Twitter, news organizations are still struggling to become inclusive and equitable spaces. Then and now, journalists are not immune to the infectious dialogue around race, gender, sexual orientation and other issues of identity, representation and power that inform a national debate about who is an American.
We live in the same fractured nation as presidential supporters who chant, “Send her back!” Yet our jobs require tremendous responsibility in reporting about identity and representation because, unlike most people, we have the power to define what our fellow Americans should know each day. To rise above the fray, we need newsrooms that foster, value and empower journalists with different viewpoints and life experiences.
I received my first lessons in how to create inclusive newsrooms as a mid-level manager. They still resonate with me today as the CEO of a national investigative news organization.
Lesson No. 1 – It’s not about you; it’s about the work.
When I was still a new editor, I criticized my newspaper’s coverage for not being inclusive. My distraught white supervising editor asked me, “Are you calling me a racist?”
Of course, that wasn’t the point or my intention. I learned a valuable lesson that day: You can’t let the personal hijack the professional.
Talking about gender, race and other issues of identity is like walking across a field of landmines because it pushes people who have historically had power and privilege (in society and newsrooms) to think about the assumptions behind their news decisions. And that makes them uncomfortable.
The antidote is focusing on the work: Make the case for why diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to your newsroom’s ability to produce excellent journalism. In an article in the spring 2015 edition of Nieman Reports, Kevin Merida, editor-in-chief of The Undefeated and a former managing editor at The Washington Post, said it best: “We’re in the business of explaining people to each other. How can we do that if we don’t have enough variety in our newsroom?”
 “Are you calling me a racist?” Umm, no, this is not about you. (Shutterstock/Sara O’Brien)
Lesson No. 2 – It’s not about you; it’s about policies.
It was the perfect editing job for me. I wanted it and was qualified. But the job went to a white man who had seniority and had paid his dues in the organization. All things being equal, the natural default position for managers is to hire the person with seniority. But valuing seniority over other criteria often means missing out on a chance to build a more inclusive newsroom.
Policies around hiring, training and promotion are as fundamental to creating a diverse and equitable newsroom as how we decide which stories to pursue. Lack of transparency, not skills or ability, often keep women, people of color and other groups without historic power out of the running for jobs.
Here’s some policy questions to ask: Are all newsroom jobs posted internally and externally? Does your organization have goals, like the Mansfield Rule, which seeks to increase diversity in hiring? (The diversity committee at the Center for Public Integrity, where I work, has suggested this approach to create a more inclusive staff.)
A diversity consultant once told me an inclusive newsroom is a transparent newsroom in which everyone ultimately benefits. Her point isn’t made enough.
Lesson No. 3 – It’s not about you; it’s about newsroom leadership.
In every newsroom where I’ve worked, I’ve participated in a diversity effort. I knew my colleagues and I had valuable insight to share with the newsroom, but we resented that we had to do the heavy lifting. It’s often left to people who are underrepresented in newsrooms and whose communities are marginalized in coverage to lead diversity efforts.
But, at some point, our collective power is not enough.
While we are the agents of change, newsroom leadership enforces change. When top managers are on board, it sends the message to staff that diversity, equity and inclusion are company values. Newsroom leaders have the power to hold people accountable and develop policies that enforce change. Without their ongoing commitment, diversity will be a task on a checklist, not a value that informs the day-to-day journalism.
A little show-and-tell can help push the bosses to champion diversity. Identify successful examples from other newsrooms, and if you are a mid-level editor, make opportunities in your newsroom to create diverse teams to report a story or series.
Nearly 30 years after sitting in my first newsroom diversity session, I can understand why the facilitator talked about institutional racism. It’s simpler to identify robed bigots as the problem than it is to fathom a system of interlacing policies, practices and laws that marginalize entire groups.
In hindsight, the facilitator taught me the most valuable lesson: If you want an inclusive newsroom, you must acknowledge how policies and practices construct roadblocks to diversity and equity.
As someone who now has the power to create and lead an inclusive newsroom, it is an early lesson I am taking to heart. |
Susan’s sources of energy and inspiration. You can follow her at @susaneudora.
What’s your pump-up song right now?
“ True to Myself,” by Ziggy Marley. Need I say more? We have to know who we are and what we stand for. Who has been your best mentor and why?
Right now, anyone who tells me the truth. No disrespect to all the folks who have knowingly taught, guided and supported me. But truth is rare currency.
What have you consumed lately that actually consumed you?
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By Mel Grau
The boss I credit with helping me develop my business acumen, from winning at internal politics to planning a Steve Jobs-level product launch, concluded every mentoring moment with the same line: Control what you can control.
I thought about his advice when I read Susan’s column. Like many of you, I don’t have the power to change policy or set company values. But I can make sure I don’t take tough conversations about race personally, halting progress with my own white fragility. I can ensure diversity with the columnists I accept and commission for the Cohort (my goal is that more than 50% of columnists are women of color). And I can leverage whatever social capital I have to point out to the people above me the injustices and imbalances I see.
How are you tackling diversity in your organization? Or what inclusion issues are you STILL dealing with? Fill me in by replying to this email. I want to hear from you!
Shannon responded to our last newsletter, featuring Colleen Murphy’s column about owning a big job at a young age. She wrote:
“I felt this issue deep! Just Friday, I was involved in a conversation where my publisher said website interactions and feedback were more my wheelhouse because I’m a ‘kid.’ I just turned 30 … I called him out on it, but unfortunately, these opinions are pervasive. I used my expertise to explain my position on the decisions we were making and, I believe, he found the points salient beyond my ‘kid-ness.’”
Good on Shannon for turning that transgression into a teachable moment. I also liked Carla’s, April’s and ( previous Cohort columnist) Nisha’s thoughts on being young in the newsroom.
The next Cohort will look a little different. Instead of a column, we’ll feature my Q&A with Rachel Smolkin, CNN Digital vice president and executive editor of politics. We talk about her strategies for managing people, platforms and pandemonium in our 24/7 news cycle.
P.S. Speaking of boss lady political journalists, did anyone catch PolitiFact editor Angie Drobnic Holan and managing editor Katie Sanders last week as they hosted a live book club about the Mueller Report? Watch my super-smart colleagues dissect the report from a fact-checker's perspective ahead of Mueller's testimony tomorrow. |
 
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