How The Tennessean is meeting its pledge to reflect Nashville area's diversity | From the editor

• Michael A. Anastasi is the editor of The Tennessean and the USA TODAY Network Tennessee.

The Tennessean long ago made a commitment to serve and reflect its community in all ways, and that includes a diverse workplace that reflects Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

To hold ourselves accountable for that commitment, we publish annually the demographic makeup of our newsroom staff. That same commitment is being carried out across our company, the USA TODAY Network.

The information is a snapshot as of July 1, 2022 and includes the gender and racial makeup of our journalists and our coverage area according to the latest U.S. Census. It also includes a breakdown of our leadership.

I’m pleased to report that The Tennessean’s workforce is 30% diverse, which reflects the population of our coverage area overall. (Scroll below to view the detailed graphics).

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

From the editor of USA TODAY:Gannett newsrooms making steady progress in overall diversity

We fall just short in a couple of categories but also over-index in a couple. The Tennessean has steadily evolved its workforce over the last several years.

Of course, the goal isn’t about numbers, it’s about reflecting and serving our community in spirit and deed. For us that means providing coverage that the community — all of the community, not just some of it — finds indispensable.

We talk frequently about the need to write not just about, but for all of our fellow citizens, and you have my promise we’ll continue to do that.

The truth is we’re not there yet and we have work to do.

Michael A. Anastasi is the editor of The Tennessean and the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. Contact him at manastasi@tennessean.com.

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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.