This has to be the year that pushes newsrooms to make progress on diversity and inclusion. As the Covid-19 crisis exposed glaring racial health disparities in the U.S., and as the killing of George Floyd prompted global protests against racism, the journalism industry has been forced to confront its own record on race and its ability to cover an increasingly diverse nation.

One solution that has been espoused in corporate America over the years has been to emphasize the business case: Greater diversity is better for business. You may be aware of this 2015 McKinsey report, showing that of a group of 366 public companies, the ones in the top quartile for racial diversity amongst their management ranks were 35% more likely to bring in higher-than-average profits.

With that in mind, I wondered: Could the same be true for newsrooms? Could a business case for diversity in journalism bring real change to our industry?

This piece was originally meant to explore these questions. I’ve learned in real time that the wider the range of perspectives and backgrounds covering the news, the more capable a newsroom will be in reaching a wider audience, the more revenue that audience will bring in, and the more attractive a newsroom becomes for drawing more diverse talent.

Yet even before 2020, many newsrooms had expressed a commitment to higher levels of diversity in hiring, promotions, and content — and progress remained slow. One harsh reality that’s become more apparent this year is that the business case is insufficient for incentivizing leaders to prioritize diversity. What’s needed is for newsrooms to accept a core responsibility to their audience and their employees — a moral case, if you will — to ensure they are covering the stories and experiences of the communities they serve.

Read the full article about diversity in newsrooms by Nicole A. Childers at NiemanLab.