Abstract
I’m a unicorn in the newsroom. As the only Bangladeshi-Muslim woman in the space, I’m an outlier. Dire employment stats show journalism has a big race problem. The industry is one of the most exclusive professions. Employment surveys report that just 0.4 per cent of British journalists are Muslim and only 0.2 per cent are black, while nearly 5 per cent of the UK population is Muslim and 3 per cent black.
Every newsroom I’ve entered has had a glaring problem with diversity. The word has become synonymous with a superficial idea that a few black and brown faces in a room do an adequate job of being progressive. But to be truly inclusive is to nurture ethnic minority writers, create a space that’s free of microaggressions, where BAME staff feel they can progress and are valued.
We need to readdress how we even approach the topic. If, instead of a diversity challenge, a company was seeing a dip in sales affecting profits, the solution would not be simply to hire more people: higher-ups would figure out a more sustainable way to bring in profits. Similarly, just hiring more minorities will not eliminate the biases that exist within institutions. Employers need to take heed of research that shows ethnically diverse organisations are more successful. To be truly diverse requires a holistic, sincere and communal effort – not a quick-fix of tokenistic hiring.
The race equality think-tank Runnymede Trust says: “Beyond hiring more people from BAME and working-class backgrounds, the media must contend with portraying a wider spectrum of political opinions and to focus on the concerns that everyday people face in our country: health and Covid-19, housing, climate crisis, poverty and many more areas.”
We know the media play a big role in shaping attitudes. When publications mix up two black people, play up stereotypical stories (Muslims receive more than three times more coverage than those involved in other terror attacks), or use inflammatory language and images to depict groups, it becomes easier to absorb these ideas. Is there any wonder that, according to one recent survey, a third of Britons think Muslims are a threat to their way of life? Or that the coronavirus outbreak saw an increase in violence against East Asians after many publications depicted images of the group in stories of the virus?
The Runnymede Trust adds: “The British media have not accurately portrayed the lived realities of ordinary, working people in our country. People of colour and ethnic minorities have not been given the opportunity to see themselves and the issues that concern them depicted in a full-dimensional manner in our mainstream media. Furthermore, the British media have played an active and leading role in fuelling hostility towards migrants and people of colour and must be accountable to these impacts on our communities.”
If we had more minorities at the helm, would these same egregious results continue? Almost every person I know in the writing industry who is from a minority background is in a junior position. Why are we being overlooked for promotion? Publications that want to change this historical imbalance should open up senior positions to BAME-only candidates. “Meritocracy” isn’t working: we need to level the playing field.
Journalism allows the same types of candidates to excel – 51 per cent of leading journalists are privately educated, while 80 per cent of top editors went to private or grammar schools, according to the Sutton Trust. Recruiters need to employ people from a different pool altogether. It could involve hiring deliberately from schools and colleges or local areas where a majority are black or from another minority. Making interviewers aware of personal biases, might help to resolve the problem.
Isolated events to boost diversity at work can feel tone-deaf and cringeworthy. An annual exercise is not the same as year-round recognition of minorities as full human beings, ensuring they’re comfortable, and making sure they are not overlooked.
We might also consider who champions diversity in the workplace – is it only the few people of colour? Minorities can’t dismantle the system without help. Every time something race-related happens in the mainstream, brands scramble to get input from writers of colour – but what happens after the moment is over? We saw huge Black Lives Matter efforts across the globe this summer – with editors opening up opportunities to black writers – but what long-lasting changes were implemented? How many of these voices were hired to explore their other talents, not just what they have to offer on matters of race?
Diversity needs to be reflected in the stories we cover too. Journalists fortunate enough to shape public consciousness can be more inclusive, more fair. Organisations such as the charity On Road Media exist for this purpose. It aims to move journalists from seeing people as case studies and to build relationships. Journalists must give the marginalised a voice, not speak for them. They need to understand how to report fairly and accurately, rather than deal in patronising generalities and inaccurate clichés.
The lack of diversity is everyone’s problem. We’re going to need all hands on deck.
