Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Gannett aims to reflect country’s diversity by 2025

 

Gannett announced a new push to make its workforce as diverse as the country by 2025 and to increase the number of journalists covering issues related to race, identity, social justice and equality, USA Today reported.

The company also released demographic figures for all its operations.

“How can we hope to fully understand the issues and needs of our communities if our newsrooms don’t reflect the people we serve?” said an opinion piece by Maribel Perez Wadsworthpresident of news at Gannett Media and publisher of USA Today.

By the end of 2020, the company plans to create 20 national and 40 local jobs focused on social justice, disparities and inclusion “to augment our coverage of race at the intersection of every critical institution, including education, health care, criminal justice and the environment.” More than a third will come from incremental hiring and the remainder will come from refocusing current reporting and editing resources, the paper said.

The company also announced steps to expand its demographic data to provide staff the opportunity to voluntarily self-identify beyond race and ethnicity, such as identifying as LGBTQ, the paper said.

News and Tech

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