FLORIDA TODAY's diversity pledge: Here's how we are doing

Two years ago, FLORIDA TODAY joined our parent company, Gannett, in committing to building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community we serve.

Our journalism is better when we hear from people with different life experiences and different perspectives — outside our newsroom but also internally. One of the biggest challenges we all face is we don't know what we don't know. The only way to crack that is to expand your network.

FLORIDA TODAY's data:FLORIDA TODAY's Diversity Pledge

Gannett newsrooms:Gannett newsrooms making steady progress in overall diversity

I've always enjoyed being challenged by people who don't see the world the same way I do. That's what drove me to live and work overseas, to try to learn a foreign language, to put myself in situations far removed from my upstate New York childhood. 

I try to bring that approach to the FLORIDA TODAY newsroom.

One of the joys of working in a newsroom are the discussions around sharp-edged topics. Having people at the table who represent the diversity of the world around us makes those discussions more on-point and arms us with better questions to put to our community leaders.

As part of our company's diversity pledge, we vowed to always be transparent about where we stand in relation to our diversity goal of reflecting our community. Every year, we will publish the makeup of our newsroom staff and show how it compares with our coverage area. 

Diversity Pledge:From the Editor: FLORIDA TODAY taking a diversity pledge

How we're doing:Here's how FLORIDA TODAY is doing on our efforts to reflect our community's diversity

That same commitment is being carried out across the USA TODAY Network, which is made up of more than 200 local publications and USA TODAY.

This information, a snapshot as of July 1, 2022, includes the gender and racial makeup of our news workforce and our coverage area, as well as for managers within our newsroom.

For FLORIDA TODAY to succeed, we must have an inclusive and diverse workplace where employees are valued and feel empowered.

As you can see, we generally represent our community, although we can always do better. 

FLORIDA TODAY's diversity efforts go beyond staffing.

We’ve worked with reporters to refine their beats. We’ve sought out stories that are more reflective of our community as a whole, with a particular emphasis on highlighting stories from underrepresented communities.

We'll continue those efforts. 

About our survey: The American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau asks two separate questions, one about Hispanic origin and one about race, allowing individuals to self-select from multiple options. However, to compare with internal Gannett employee information that asks individuals to mark only one option, we used the following categories: Hispanic or Latino (for ACS, regardless of any other race selected), White (not Hispanic or Latino), Black or African American (not Hispanic or Latino), Asian (not Hispanic or Latino), American Indian or Alaska Native (not Hispanic or Latino), Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (not Hispanic or Latino), or two or more races (not Hispanic or Latino). All information on racial identity is provided voluntarily by employees. Gannett also allows an individual to not disclose their race or ethnicity.

Executive Editor Mara Bellaby can be reached at mbellaby@floridatoday.com.