From the Editor: The Statesman Journal remains committed to its diversity efforts

Two years ago, we shared the first audit of our newsroom representation and our pledge that our news coverage would better document the range of experiences in our community.

Today, we share the latest audit in our commitment to ensure that by 2025 our staff is reflective of the community we serve in terms of ethnicity and gender, as well as in our coverage efforts, including new or changed news beats for reporters.

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.

Though our staff diversity has remained consistent the last year and the percentage of women has grown, we still are not as diverse as the community.

We use the term "snapshot" because the data fluctuates as staff and editors are hired away and we recruit new members of the newsroom. Just days after the current audit was taken, for example, an editor and reporter began working in Salem. Jonathan Williams started working as the daily news editor, and Dejania Oliver began covering "news now," including crime and public safety.

This annual audit is an effort to be as transparent as possible about our commitment to an inclusive culture. 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.

More:Gannett newsrooms making steady progress in overall diversity

A diverse and inclusive workforce helps us better connect and serve our readers and the community. And we work to ensure a variety of voices and images from our community are reflected on StatesmanJournal.com and in the print edition.

We have featured dozens of people in our weekly "Meet Our Mid-Valley" profile of folks that otherwise might not have been in the news. The profiles have included an international award-winning nail artist, an Independence couple running a youth ranch for teenagers who are going through mental health struggles, and an ASMR YouTuber.

We have continued to have an open and sometimes humbling dialogue with representatives of communities of color about how we can improve our coverage and our relationship with them. We also have a Latino digital advisory group, and each week, we offer a handful of stories in Spanish.

Through funding from the Murdock Trust, we hired healthcare inequities reporter Sydney Wyatt who started working this summer. And we recommitted with Report For America in sharing the cost of a salary for a reporter covering agricultural workers in the Mid-Valley. Shannon Sollit started covering her beat this summer.

We are happy to have introductions and hear ideas as we work to ensure all our neighbors in our community see themselves reflected in our coverage. Feel free to reach out to anyone on staff with your thoughts and ideas.

Give us your feedback: We welcome your thoughts

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.

Cherrill Crosby is the executive editor of the Statesman Journal. You may reach her at crosbyc@statesmanjournal.com.