As A Middle Eastern Woman, Diversity In Journalism Is Incredibly Important — Here's How To Help

Diversity and journalism haven't gone hand in hand for a while.

The institution is primarily white and male. There is a pay gap between females, people of color, and male journalists.

This pay gap is not just in the journalism industry, it can also be seen in many other fields of work as well.

However, it is in fact 2020. Even though 2020 has brought with it a year of sadness, anger, and frustration due to the coronavirus, it has also been the year of activism. More than ever before, Americans are advocating for change within many different communities, the most significant being the uproar of the Black Lives Matter movement.

2020 has given us the chance to do our research and speak up for what we want/believe in. Diversity has been a topic that is also being tossed around.

People should be celebrated for their differences rather than not being paid enough for it.

It's the little things that matter when it comes to diversity. For example, putting your pronouns in your social media bio, reaching out to sources that are not all primarily white. In my journalism ethics and diversity course, we are being taught how diversity is just something that was never the first thought when a journalist went out to report.

It is true that as journalists we are supposed to follow ethical guidelines, but I think that we cannot just follow those rules without keeping diversity in mind.

Sometimes, we need to be more transparent with our audience.

We have to explain why our sources for a story might have been primarily white. We have to question if we are capturing our audiences' essence correctly.

It is no longer a competition on which media outlet can put out a story the fastest.

Now, the focus has to be on which media outlet has the most diverse story, which media outlet was able to be transparent and address their issues of diversity.

Diversity is the number one thing that sets humans apart from each other.

It is something that should be praised and showcased when possible. No one should shy away from that.