USA Today’s papers are publishing the racial and gender make-up of their newsrooms “as part of our commitment to an inclusive culture.” As that Sioux Falls paper writes, “an inclusive and diverse workplace” that reflects “the diversity in the communities we serve” is necessary for the newspaper to succeed.
I’ll wait for Governor Noem’s out-of-state communications team to work up some media-slamming critique of this shade of critical race theory/wokeness/political correctness. I’ll simply point out that if that Sioux Falls paper’s statement is true, their race numbers show they aren’t quite succeeding:
That Sioux Falls paper is whiter than the community whose stories it tells. They have higher representation of folks with Latin American origins than the Queen City of the East as a whole, but their newsroom includes no representatives of Sioux Falls’s other minority groups.
The Sioux Falls scribes are better on balancing ladies and gentlemen. Over the past year, females became a slim majority among their reporters. However, guys still outnumber gals in the decision-making positions:
Of course, we’re talking small numbers here, so it’s unfair to hold that Sioux Falls paper’s newsroom to strict adherence to community-wide racial and gender percentages. Replacing or laying off one reporter would throw any balance off.
And I’m in no position to critique other news services for a lack of diversity. The staff of Dakota Free Press is 0% nonwhite and 0% female, as well as 0% homosexual, 0% transgender, 0% Muslim… although depending how you slice me, I may still be 74% Republican!
And for Pat PowerLess’ whining response that that paper in Sioux Falls doesn’t have any Republican reporters, I’ll respond.
“Sorry, Pat. Reporters need to know how to read.”
Maybe in a year, when the Amazon Fulfillment Center opens, that will change as there will be a need for more younger minority workers in that area. It should certainly bring more progressive voters into the area. We just have to let those pesky trumpians kill themselves off and be sickly from their own Delta making to make change.