By David Gordon, associate editor
Four news media panelists agreed Friday on the need to encourage a greater diversity of voices and perspectives in their stories and in their newsrooms but had no easy answers on how to bring this about
The mid-day panel was part of this year’s 20th annual Juneteenth observance in the Chippewa Valley. The daylong programming, held entirely online, was organized by Uniting Bridges.
The news media panelists acknowledged the tension between the need for continuing coverage of ongoing protests against police violence while also reporting on other news that’s important to the community. They also agreed on the news media’s responsibility to provide historical context for events they report.
Ovshinsky: broader perspective needed
Noah Ovshinsky of Wisconsin Public Radio said that, without that context, “you can’t possibly understand what’s been happening the past three weeks.”
He noted that WPR newsrooms are now staffed about 70 percent by women but lack journalists of color and can no longer “let the diversity come to us.” Instead, aggressive recruitment tactics are needed to challenge “our very limited white perspective,” he said.
“We have failed to deal enough with the black experience in Wisconsin,” he added.
Emerson: build connections outside comfort zone
Julian Emerson, a long-time Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reporter now working for UpNorthNews, agreed on the importance of getting more women and “more people of color in newsrooms.” This will add new perspectives to the news reporting process and that, in turn, will help push him out of his “comfort zone” as a white male journalist, he said.
Emerson added that he is continually trying to build connections with a wide variety of people who are not like him and who can help him get past his own blind spots. That’s an inexact science, he said, and “it’s a huge struggle.”
Prelutsky: help the unheard be heard
In response to a question posed in a Washington Post article, Zach Prelutsky of WEAU-TV said he thought the voices of Eau Claire protesters were being heard amid the sensational aspects of protests in Minneapolis and elsewhere. Nationally, that may well not be the case, he said.
“It’s about identifying the voices of the movement . . . the people who are participating,” he said, adding that the media need to provide an outlet for those voices that may otherwise go unheard.
Lindquist: space & time limit coverage
Eric Lindquist, a Leader-Telegram reporter who frequently writes in-depth stories, said that people or groups desiring news coverage need to keep journalists in the loop on newsworthy activities and developments. However, he cautioned that space and time limitations will prevent coverage of everything that’s suggested.
The panel, moderated by Ed Hudgins of Converge Radio, was one of many online events on the Juneteenth schedule. Among those on Friday morning was Andrew Sturtevant’s discussion of indigenous history and colonialism, which focused in part on the efforts to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day.
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