Gannett pledged to mirror newsroom diversity with the communities we cover. Here's how we're doing.

USA TODAY

One year ago, America was in the depths of a global pandemic and grappling with a racial reckoning that tore at the fabric of our nation. Today, much work still needs to be done before the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us and the racial and political divides in our country are bridged.

As we strive to document a changing America, journalists at USA TODAY and Gannett’s more than 250 local daily news organizations are committed to work that helps readers make sense of the world around them and better understand the challenges ahead.

We realize that it is impossible to do so fairly and accurately without building a workforce that reflects our nation. Diversity and inclusion are moral imperatives, and we know those values are key to our business success.

That’s why Gannett pledged to build a workforce that mirrors the demographics of the nation and the communities we serve by the end of 2025 and why we committed to publicly report our staff demographics each year.

Today, I am pleased to note that we have made solid progress toward our goal, with increased representation of journalists who are female, Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) across our local-to-national network of newsrooms. Though our work is far from over, we continue our commitment to achieving racial and ethnic parity over the course of the next four years.

Here are a few highlights from this year’s survey, which reflects our newsroom workforce as of July 13, 2021:

USA TODAY increased the proportion of BIPOC journalists. Female representation also increased year-over-year.
Similar gains among BIPOC journalists were recorded in local newsrooms including Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Rochester and West Palm Beach.
Gannett hired or promoted more than a dozen journalists of color to senior leadership roles and top newsroom positions since the 2020 survey was conducted.

As the nation’s largest news organization, we also recognized the historic opportunity presented last year when people of all ages and races, in communities large and small, demanded racial and social justice. To that end, we created 20 national and 40 regional positions focused on social justice, disparities and inclusion across all major coverage areas. And that number continues to grow as we add new beats and retool existing ones.

The work of those journalists serves to deepen understanding across chasms of race, culture and difference.

In May, USA TODAY kicked off Never Been Told: The Lost History of People of Color with a goal of elevating the people, places and ideas that have been consistently excluded from history books.

The project, led by Nichelle Smith, enterprise editor for racism and history, and Javonte Anderson, enterprise reporter for racism and history, highlights unheralded stories by unearthing newly found records, research and witness accounts.

We’re also particularly proud of an ongoing project by dozens of our journalists across five states in the South called The Confederate Reckoning, which traces the complicated history of the Confederacy from the historic battlefields of the 1860s to contemporary classrooms and halls of government. In June, the project earned the grand prize from the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards, which recognize outstanding domestic and international reporting on human rights and social justice.

Here is a glimpse of some of the other work produced by journalists dedicated to social justice, disparities and inclusion:

The company has also expanded its learning and development offerings with an emphasis on retaining and promoting diverse talent. Chief among them is our Leadership Academy, Gannett’s signature news management development program. Since its inception, about two-thirds of program participants earned promotions either during their time in the program or in the following year.

We also know we have a responsibility to help the next generation of journalists establish their careers. To that end, we established partnerships with organizations such as the Freedom Forum, the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting and the Native American Journalists Association to support learning, development and mentorship of diverse students and early-career candidates.

To be sure, this work must continue and must advance. The latest U.S. Census figures, released after our internal census was conducted, underscore the growing diversity of the country.

We are committed to achieving our 2025 goal as part of our mission to expose injustice in all its forms and accurately reflect the interests, issues and lived experiences of the people we serve.

A look at staff diversity at USA TODAY Network news sites:

Maribel Perez Wadsworth is president of news at Gannett Media and publisher of USA TODAY.