Our commitment to strengthening the diversity of our newsroom: Where we fell short in 2022

The Montgomery Advertiser is committed to diversifying our newsroom when hiring journalists to join our team. But what does that look like? And why does it matter? 

Each summer, the Montgomery Advertiser joins other news organizations across the USA TODAY Network in publishing the demographic makeup of our newsroom staff. 

We do this to hold ourselves accountable to a pledge we made to build and sustain a workforce that better reflects the communities we serve. That same pledge is being carried out across the USA TODAY Network, which is made up of more than 200 local publications and USA TODAY.

We do it as part of a commitment to an inclusive culture, one where our team members know they are valued and feel empowered. And we do it to dismantle the echo chamber that can form when we miss opportunities to challenge our own particular world views.

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. It helps us to see where we are making progress and where we have work to do.

Contact list:Get to know the journalists who work for The Advertiser

More:Gannett newsrooms making steady progress in overall diversity

Our big takeaway: We still have work to do in diversifying by race. The Montgomery Advertiser's newsroom is overwhelmingly white at 80%, which is significantly higher than the 52.5% white population of Montgomery.

And while our coverage area is 38.5% Black, just 13.3% of our newsroom was Black in the survey period. That's down from 25% in 2020. Getting this right is especially important in a city where white supremacy has been used historically to justify dehumanizing abuse, terror and systemic inequities. 

U.S. census data also reports that our coverage area is also 3.2% Hispanic/Latino, 2.7% Asian, 0.2% Native American, and 2.6% of two or more races. Serving our readers means serving all of our readers, not just the largest segments. 

Our newsroom is also overwhelmingly male; our staff is just 26.7% female. The leadership team, made up of managing editor Steve Arnold and me, is 50% male and 50% female. 

It's clear we aren't where we want or need to be. We know that a diverse and inclusive workforce helps us better connect and serve you — our readers and our community partners. 

We also know that diversity is more complicated than boxes on the census. That's why we're also committed to nurturing teams of diverse socio-economic backgrounds, ages, styles of expression, family structures, geographies and so much more. 

We will continue to evolve the makeup of our team and ensure we challenge one another, every day, about what we cover, how we cover it and for whom. As journalists, that's absolutely necessary as we strive for objectivity and seek to build trust with our audiences and one another.

Paige O. Windsor is the executive editor for the Advertiser and state editor for the USA TODAY Network in Alabama. Reach her at pwindsor@montgome.gannett.com.  

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About the 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.

Paige O. Windsor is the Executive Editor for the Advertiser. Reach her at pwindsor@montgome.gannett.com.  

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