All by myself

We need more people of color in student media

Spencer Bispham / Asst. Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

Recently, four other USD students in media and I had the opportunity to attend the Society of Professional Journalists’ MediaFest ‘22 conference in Washington, D.C. The trip was an incredible experience, and part of it was attending my first Black journalists roundtable. As the only Black writer at The USD Vista, this environment was refreshing. For once, I didn’t stand out among the dozens of journalists convened in the same room laughing, sharing stories and making connections.

After sitting with those conversations, bringing that spirit of inclusion back to our mostly white student media program has proven more challenging than I anticipated.

When covering stories, I try to lead with empathy, so it was no surprise that this task initially evoked strong feelings. The most immediate of these was rage, often at the instances of discrimination recounted by others at the event. During the roundtable, one student claimed that their attempts to cover stories relating to other Black folks and communities of color were openly shot down by the rest of their staff. Another maintained that as the only Black staff member, the Editor-in-Chief of their paper was more-intensely critical of their work than that of their white peers.

Unfortunately, these accounts of racial discrimination are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to explicit prejudice, journalists of color are also challenged with avoiding tokenization and trauma-inducing stories.

According to Matthew Ingram from the Columbia Journalism Review, the demands on Black journalists in particular are extremely taxing in a post-George Floyd era.

“On top of often covering stories that involve violence against other Black people, with the associated emotional trauma that can produce, many Black journalists are also called on to give advice about stories written by non-Black reporters and to educate their colleagues about racism and its effects,” Ingram wrote.

At a predominantly white institution like USD, these claims about Black journalists reflect my lived experience. I have entirely lost track of the amount of times I’ve had to explain myself: my words, mannerisms and why certain things are offensive to me as a person of color. I’ve had conversations with others who also feel like they’ve had to become experts in justifying themselves, even though the answers to many of their peers’ questions are a simple Google search away.

In a Communication Studies research article from 2018, scholars found troubling information about how news media deals with race, as it relates to all minority groups.

“Past research on racial discourse in news reveals patterns of ‘modern racism,’ where both explicit and implicit references to people of color are combined in problematic ways,” it reads. “Mainstream news also privileges dramatic, episodic framing of race, focusing on interracial conflict, violence, and individuals; this displaces evidence of racial comity and the role of institutional and social-level factors.” This framing of race in the media is prevalent in different news mediums, television especially.

A story from 2020 on CNN about George Floyd illustrates this concept quite well.

“Violent George Floyd protests at CNN Center unfold on live TV,” the headline reads. “Police and protestors clash in Minneapolis as curfew starts.”

Not only are these headlines overly-dramatic, but they do exactly what is described in the above Communication Studies article. There is no acknowledgement of the institutional or social factors (systemic racism and policing) which were the subjects of many George-Floyd-era protests, forcing the blame onto individuals instead. Not only was this insensitive to the racial minorities who were speaking up in protest, but it was also a failure to report the story holistically.

An overwhelming lack of representation is just one layer of this racial insensitivity at all levels of news media. As of 2018, The Pew Research Center estimated that 77% of all newsroom employees in the U.S. are white, in contrast to 65% of its general workforce population. These demographics leave a huge gap in representation for communities of color, both in terms of the types of stories that are covered as well as who’s covering them. If staff in media outlets don’t represent different racial/cultural backgrounds, accurately reporting on non-white folks falls to the few of us who find ourselves in the newsroom.

Fixing this misrepresentation matters, and it starts on college campuses. Providing students with opportunities to explore careers in news media is important, but it can be daunting to take advantage of said opportunities if you can’t see yourself within the organization.

In a study of 75 award-winning college newsrooms, analysts at Nieman Labs found concerning statistics about the diversity of leadership in student journalism.

“Less than 6% of Editors-in-Chief were Black, even though Black students comprise nearly 10% of the corresponding colleges’ total population,” the study said. “And 11% of top editors were Latinx, despite Latinx students making up almost 22% of that total population.”

The same article cites Marissa Evans, a former student journalist at Marquette University, and her experience of being alienated by whiteness in the newsroom. The piece describes her attempt to become the Marquette Tribune’s first Black Editor-in-Chief and how she “didn’t feel wanted” by student media, after they gave the job to a younger white man. Evans later received feedback that this decision rested on how the hiring committee didn’t know how well she “would work with other people,” despite her numerous qualifications for the position.

The sincerity behind their statement is questionable, but it still reflects the lack of diversity within college newspapers. In an industry dominated by one particular racial identity (or another singular identity group), how well can someone outside that group really be expected to integrate into a leadership position?

In the U.S., news media is the “Fourth Estate:” an essential part of our country’s democratic system, which ensures those in power are held accountable. As with our elected offices, it’s ideal that the demographics of the news media industry should reflect those of the general population.

Similar to elections, it is up to those of us who desire change to see it realized. In all of student media at USD, between our newspaper, TV and radio programs, there are numerous opportunities for students of color to get involved. Joining The USD Vista has been one of the most gratifying experiences in my undergraduate career, despite the institutional challenges that present themselves on the job. Even when I’m not in love with it, I find it to be a powerful outlet to share the stories of those without much of a voice.

If you think you might be interested in The Vista, USD TV or USD Radio, feel free to apply here! Applications are open to all undergraduate students through Dec. 9. Your voice has power, and especially for other students of color, it’s important that you use it.