Inclusivity, diversity in coverage, staff are priorities for Savannah Morning News
Jill NevelsNationally, the social consciousness landscape has been one of demonstrative calls for change – a global demand for a more inclusive approach, one that lends to broadening the base of those covering such actions.
Diversity is that broadening tool.
Our parent company, Gannett, is releasing diversity census information and disclosing ambitious diversity and inclusion goals, which include guidelines for newsrooms to reach parity with the communities they serve by 2025.
Locally, this means that we will continue our diversity initiatives, which include embracing the challenge of broadening the diversity landscape in the newsroom by ensuring persons of color and women are sought and included in the talent pool when filling open positions.
Read More: Fresh perspectives, insights among benefits of diverse newsroom at Savannah Morning News
We’ve grown from 17.6% Black to 30%; from 5.9% to 10% Hispanic/Latino and 5% Asian. Women make up 55% of our newsroom.
Click for the staff directory of the Savanah Morning News
As a coverage area, our region is 61.4% White; 24.8% Black; 7.8% Hispanic/Latino; 2.4% Asian; and 3% two or more races.
The diversity percentages represent the broader area where we circulate print editions — an area extending as far as Hilton Head Island, and includes surrounding areas such as Chatham, Effingham, Bryan and Liberty counties. Savannah, our core, is more diverse and that is what we strive to reflect in our newsroom staff.
At the Savannah Morning News, we also have a goal of achieving greater inclusivity by broadening the diversity of communities we cover and incorporating more voices within our reporting. We want this coverage to be intentional and impactful. One strategy we utilize to achieve this goal is to prioritize those impacted by the stories we pursue, rather than simply the decision makers, to increase the diversity of voices uplifted by our coverage. Another strategy involves establishing an on-the-ground group of tipsters in the Black and Latino, LGBTQIA+, low-income, working class, elderly and other marginalized communities to help generate story ideas, especially for enterprise and investigative content. We also continued our Community Advisory Board to help us identify and address coverage gaps and serve as another set of eyes and ears in our community.
Here are a few examples of initiatives and coverage:
The 912
The 912 newsletter was started in April 2021 as a way to reach potential Black readers who had been ignored by reporting out of this news organization for many decades. It was designed to lean less on hard news topics such as crime or city issues, and focus on what Black Savannahians were doing in ways of culture, business, art and athletics. Each week, the newsletter starts with thoughts from our curator, Laura Nwogu, and shifts into a Q&A with a professional in town talking at length about how they started, how they got to where they are and what they love most about following that passion while living in Savannah, the 912. Each newsletter concludes with stories of interest and a specially-designed piece of artwork from a local Black artist. We have grown to more than 1,250 subscribers.
The 912:Afrobeats to the world
Carver Village
We examined growth and development centered around West Savannah, the site of a $200 million arena for a hockey team and performances. The emerging entertainment district around it could gentrify longtime neighborhoods. And with housing prices soaring, residents fear for their future. Carver Village is one of those. It was established as affordable housing for Black GIs returning after fighting in World War II. It first grew into a close-knit, middle-class community. Over the past several decades as interstates boxed it in and isolated it from other areas, the city disinvested.
Development, Sea-level Rise Impacts on Historic Gullah Geechee Communities
Sapelo Island's Hog Hammock, the last remaining intact Gullah Geechee community on Georgia's sea islands, is trying to hold on to its history and rebuild an economy based on heritage crops brought to the southeastern coast during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Maurice Bailey, a descendent of the formerly enslaved who lived on and worked the sugar, rice, and indigo plantations, is fighting not only developers but also a sea increasingly encroaching onto the island.
Turning Tides:She's descended from the man who enslaved his ancestor. Together, they're making a case for reparations
The Art of Gentrification
We continued our investigation into housing and economic inequality in Savannah with a series that examined how the Savannah College of Art and Design has impacted the city’s downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.
Read More:As SCAD grows outward, community questions whether it is revitalizer, gentrifier or both
Stonewall Block Party celebrates Savannah Pride
In June, DO Savannah profiled the First City Pride Center's Stonewall Block Party event, which was one of the first large-scale, outdoor Pride events since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. The piece also featured a number of intimate, black-and-white portraits with various members of the center with quotes they provided to photographer Adriana Iris Boatwright about what queer history meant to them.
Savannah Pride:For the First City Pride Center's Stonewall Block Party, it is all about the Savannah community
Operation Blooming Onion
An initial article written by public safety reporter Drew Favakeh about the U.S. DOJ's 24-person indictment, including current and former GA Dept. of Labor employees, for their roles in a years-long human trafficking case involving farmworkers, led to a partnership with USAT's investigative team. The subsequent reporting details abuses with the H2-A visa program, bribery of state employees, and kidnapping and exploitation of migrant farmworkers. This is an ongoing series.
More:Operation Blooming Onion: Federal indictment reveals 'modern-day-slavery' in Georgia
More:Farm labor traffickers bribed Georgia government employees, federal agent testifies
While this is a snapshot of our work, we acknowledge there is more to be done. Our pledge to you, our readers, is that we will work diligently to create content that engages, enlightens and enriches the lives of ALL of our readers, who are our families, friends, neighbors and ultimately, the ambassadors of our work.
Jill Nevels-Haun is Executive Editor of the Savannah Morning News and Georgia State Editor.