“Diversity is at the core of digital transformation"
Q&A with Alexandra Borchardt from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
15. November 2020
Q: What problems are media organizations and newsrooms currently facing when it comes to diversity and representation?
“There are quite a few problems. Some are structural, some homemade. One structural problem is that newsrooms have never been used to active and professional recruiting. In former times applications just kept pouring in, one could pick from the top. But this doesn’t provide a company with a diverse set of candidates. Another one is that newsrooms have become less diverse in the past decades for the decline of local news organisations. Journalism used to be a profession where you didn’t need a university degree to make it, particularly in local news, and you could work your way up from there. This provided for a mix of social backgrounds, but that route is pretty much closed. The two most important homemade challenges are hierarchical, non-inclusive company cultures at media organisations and the lack of metrics to track change. There’s been a lot of talk about the need for diversity recently but not enough action with impact.”
Q: In your article GOING DIGITAL MEANS GOING DIVERSE – NOT ONLY BUT ESPECIALLY FOR NEWSROOMS you explain how newsroom homogeneity results in an incomplete view of the world. Can you shortly explain this?
“Diversity is at the core of digital transformation. If you want to be successful in digital media, you need an “audience first” approach. Organisations that are homogeneous tend to have trouble identifying the audiences they could serve. Even more so, they don’t fully understand how they could serve these audiences. They might lack insights about the platforms to use or about what kind of tone would be appropriate, meaning respectful. Cultivating homogeneity means limiting the range of ideas you could explore."
"Organisations that are homogeneous tend to have trouble identifying the audiences they could serve. Even more so, they don’t fully understand how they could serve these audiences."
Q: What are the latest developments in the conversation about diversity and representation in news rooms in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement and the anti-racist demonstrations? Did these movements and discussions push the agenda of diversity and representation?
“In some major news organisations activities have been taken. Leaders are being put in charge of diversity, and discussions about racism and language are abundant. After all, newsrooms have been particularly unsuccessful in tackling diversity of race. But most companies still have a long way to go, even in the US, where the issue has been on the agenda for a long time.”
Q: In your 10 recommendations for talent and diversity Getting Real About Talent and Diversity you write: “The assumption is that diversity of staff automatically results in diversity of content. This is likely but not a given. Norms to conform to an unwritten industry consensus on how things are done are hard to overcome at times.” – What norms could this be and what needs to be done to overcome some of these norms?
“People who belong to a minority and still make it in prestigious organisations tend to be overachievers. And overachievers are very good in comprehending what it takes to be successful in a certain environment. This is why they eagerly adjust. Blending in has helped them to make inroads into a certain culture, so they do everything to be the tough politics reporter, the humorous culture writer, the nerdy science reporter or whatever gets them ahead in the organisation. They don’t want to be reduced to that one part of their identity and something that is considered a fringe subject, for example writing about feminism (for women) or racism (for ethnic minorities). They know that this would slow down their careers, so they don’t necessarily volunteer to suggest subjects that could matter to “their” group.”
Q: What will you be talking about at this year’s Festival for new media?
“There will be no successful digital transformation without an inclusive newsroom culture and a certain diversity of content, unless you are a very specialised niche publication. This is what I will talk about.”
Interviewet er lavet af Kasper Mikael Jacek.