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AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INCLUSION INDEX

Pilot project was launched in Pittsburgh to improve DEIB in newsrooms

By Alyssa Choiniere

Pilot project was launched in Pittsburgh to improve DEIB in newsrooms

An initiative to improve relationships between newsrooms and the diverse communities they cover has started in Pittsburgh with a goal of making its impact global.

The American Press Institute Inclusion Index launched its pilot program in five Pittsburgh newsrooms: the Pittsburgh Tribune-review, Pittsburgh City Paper, The Pitt

News, Pittsburgh Post-gazette and Publicsource. The five organizations include daily print, nonprofit news, an alternative weekly and a student newspaper. The Pittsburgh initiative is funded by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation.

The index was developed by Letrell Deshan Crittenden, PH.D., API’S director of inclusion and audience growth. The Steel City was chosen for the launch because he previously

studied DEIB efforts in Pittsburgh media with the Pittsburgh Black

Media Federation, API’S partner on the project.

Crittenden honed his career track after an interaction when he was working as a police and government reporter in New York. A person stopped him in the hallway and accused him of being racist. Crittenden was taken aback. He was the only Black reporter at the newspaper. But then he read over his stories and realized that they were perpetuating negative stereotypes about minorities instead of covering neighborhoods with the nuance they deserved. He went on to study those issues in grad school and earned his PH.D.

“My life’s work has really been focused on trying to improve relationships between communities of color and journalists so that communities of color can see themselves represented in a different light,” he said.

Crittenden believes making changes in one city will impact surrounding publications and have a ripple effect that impacts newsrooms nationwide.

The Index assesses seven targeted areas that can negatively impact communities of color, including lack of diversity, inclusivity and belonging in newsrooms, stereotypical coverage of communities of color and lack of engagement with communities of color, lack of understanding of key assets in those communities, and lack of infrastructure to support the efforts.

Crittenden said infrastructure is the most important piece.

“It’s not enough to say you’re going to do something. You have to put into place the policies, the procedures to make sure all of this works,” he said.

This can include establishing a system to collect grievances, establishing ways to address employee mental health and burnout and tracking how communities of color are being covered.

Crittenden understands that many newsrooms are struggling, and he wants the Index to help newsrooms build on their own success and sustainability through the implementation of their tools.

“That’s the whole idea, really, behind the Index. We want newsrooms to rethink how they are doing daily business and how they are making changes in their daily routines and impact in communities,” he said.

The approach allows newsrooms to see areas that are not working and apply time and resources toward efforts that are successful and impactful.

“There is no prescriptive solution. Our goal is to build infrastructure that is specific to the needs of each newspaper,” he said.

The approach begins with the research phase, which includes meeting with newsroom employees and community members, and reviewing the publication’s content. The process also involves community listening sessions so that news leaders can hear directly from those they serve.

He spoke in generalities about the findings due to a privacy agreement. The biggest problem they found in every newsroom was a lack of trust.

“Simply put, communities of color in Pittsburgh have a deep-rooted lack of trust for news media in Pittsburgh… This is also why it is imperative for newsrooms to find better ways to engage their communities and find more opportunities to provide stories about these communities that emphasize the full lived experiences of people of color in the Pittsburgh region,” he said.

Crittenden said communities of color want coverage that presents solutions to problems. They do not want to see their neighborhoods only appearing in headlines when a crime occurred. This negatively impacts communities and causes them to be viewed as distressed, and nothing else, he said.

“That really does perpetuate stereotypes,” he said. “Communities of color are starting to tune out local media because they don’t feel they are getting their information needs served because all they’re going to find out is stories of tragedies.”

Crittenden said he has also seen widespread burnout among newsroom employees. An important part of newsroom diversity is not just hiring employees that are reflective of the communities they cover but retaining them.

The last phase is for the newsrooms to present the plans to implement changes publicly.

API plans to find a new region to implement the program after the presentation Jan. 24, but he intends for the work in Pittsburgh to continue.

“We don’t want this to be a one-anddone program,” he said. “We want to continue relationships in Pittsburgh and sustain the momentum in Pittsburgh.”

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