America’s news media industry is one of the least diverse in the American workforce. Nowhere is that lack of racial and ethnic diversity more stark than in the ranks of the nation’s investigative editors and reporters at major news organizations.
A survey of 22 newsrooms conducted by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists from 2021 to 2023 reveals that 60% of investigative news reporters are white, 13% Latino, 9% Black and less than 1% Indigenous. There was even less diversity among editors, with the survey showing that more than 75% of editors identify as white.
Those numbers fall short of representing the country’s demographics, and contrast even more starkly with the demographics of the major metro areas that most of the newsrooms serve, leading to journalism that fails to adequately cover communities of color.
The lack of progress in diversifying investigative teams is a hard conversation for national news leaders. Of 45 news organizations repeatedly invited to participate in the survey, only 22 responded. For years, the News Leaders Association experienced a similarly poor response rate from top U.S. editors during its annual diversity survey, which was halted in 2020 for lack of participation from newsrooms.
One of the newsrooms that did respond was the Los Angeles Times, whose leadership met with the NAHJ Task Force in January 2022 when reporters of color made up one of six investigative team reporters, covering a metropolitan region where people of color are more than half the population. By September of that year, the LA Times announced it had added three reporters to diversify its investigative team.
In interviews with the news executives who were willing to sit down and discuss their records and approaches, there were clear industry bright spots in diversifying investigative teams, notably at The Associated Press, the Center for Public Integrity and ProPublica. Also, Asian American Pacific Islanders represented 11% of reporters at responding organizations, compared with 6% of the population, but they only represent 4% of investigative editors.
About the National Association of Hispanic Journalists:
NAHJ is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in the newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in news media. NAHJ has over 4,000 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals and journalism educators. For more information please visit NAHJ.org or follow on X @NAHJ.
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GregoryNorfleet
The press release concludes that the lack of demographic diversity is "leading to journalism that fails to adequately cover communities of color."
But the report states, "potentially impacting the range of perspectives and stories that are covered."
The report does not provide evidence that this lack of diversity is actually harming the media's goal of providing fair and accurate reporting, or even that the reporting ignores issues important to consumers.
In other words, the NAHJ wants diverse newsrooms but has no solid reason why this would benefit the media outlet, from drawing more consumers to drawing more advertisers.
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