Diversity in Public Media
How the pandemic has created challenges for PRX’s DEI director
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“When you’re at home, how do you engage in difference?” asks Byron Green, who joined PRX in April 2021. “How do you engage across differences at large?”
Current (https://current.org/series/diversity/page/5)
“When you’re at home, how do you engage in difference?” asks Byron Green, who joined PRX in April 2021. “How do you engage across differences at large?”
NPR’s SAG-AFTRA union issued a mixed progress report this month on its demands for addressing diversity issues within the network.
The end of an employee council focused on DEI issues has lessened friction within the station. But former members say areas such as pay transparency haven’t been addressed.
Stations that signed on to the Public Media for All campaign have made progress in DEI work, but not without tackling internal challenges.
Yemisi Oloruntola-Coates began her time with the Boston station by holding “really intensive listening sessions” with over 200 people.
The CPB funds are allowing participating stations to expand management training that wasn’t previously possible with tight budgets.
Media organizations including New York Public Radio have joined the BBC’s 50:50 Project, which is expanding beyond gender to track race and ethnicity.
“We get to learn from our guests as much as listeners do.”
Colorado Public Radio and KOSU in Oklahoma are participating in the Rural News Network, a new initiative from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
The station began offering news in French, Spanish, Somali and Portuguese to deliver public service information amid the pandemic.
The goal for “Hawai‘i Kulāiwi” is “to help the audience just see Hawaii the way that Hawaiians do,” says Paige Okamura, known to listeners as “DJ Mermaid.”
Created in the wake of the Atlanta shootings, “Where Y’all Really From” became the station’s fastest-growing podcast.
Research “was designed to cultivate a listening audience that would support the network financially. This strategy has, in turn, informed how NPR conceives of, and pursues, its ideal Latinx listener.”
“Sometimes we decide not to ask questions when we’re afraid of what the answer may be. I suspect that may be the case when it comes to why people of color leave the industry.”
You’ve started tracking the diversity of your sources. Hooray! Now, there are a few things you and your newsroom can do to make sure that source diversity tracking becomes a lasting habit.