Satvika Ramanathan presented a lesson on diversity in journalism for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association last year. Her high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has a diverse population, but can always strive to be better, she said. Next year, as editor-in-chief, she said she’ll continue pushing for an inclusive newsroom.
At Medill’s cherubs program, instructors emphasize reflecting all perspectives.
Instructors Ava Thompson Greenwell, Erin Ailworth and Joe Grimm lectured on “Reporting on the Whole Community.” Greenwell went into history by discussing the 1968 Kerner Commission report on racism in the media. She has taught about the commission for six years.
“I think it’s really amazing that we are having these discussions in this space,” Ramanathan said. “Diversity and inclusion is something that’s really close to my heart.”
Many cherubs will be editors at their publications. Dorie Xie, who will be editor-in-chief for her school in Los Altos, California, said she hopes she and other leaders take the lessons to their outlets. One is Greenwell’s advice on whether to include someone’s race or ethnicity in a story. She advised students to evaluate sentences by substituting identifiers to see if they are even needed.
“The replacing adjectives example and just being more aware of … how we’re covering certain people, and how we’re portraying different groups of people, whether intentionally or unintentionally, are all things that I will tell my staff about,” Xie said.
Greenwell said if the news media are ever going to truly represent the population, it’s up to students to continue what she teaches.
“We will never get there unless the next generations help us get there,” Greenwell said.
