How to Utilize E.D.I. and Avoid its Pitfalls

By explicitly identifying people of discriminatory affiliations for opinions, we feed into the premise that we are all different. We must look past race, disability, faith, political biases, and other affiliations to look at a person.

Angeline Taylor is a great professor, Ph.D. student, and writer. Not a great Christian professor, student, and writer.

By labeling her as Christian or Black, we are backwardly saying she is excellent within her affiliations when she would be as great as a Jewish white man or Muslim Iranian.

“We need to cover people, not because they are black or Asian or gay, but because they are people,” said equity, diversion, and inclusion teacher Kevin Benz.

The goal to be diverse in the newsroom starts with identifying talent and putting it on display regardless of affiliations.

Naturally, some expert journalists are Asian, Hindu, Autistic, or an immigrant; however, the former defines these individuals, not the latter.

An example of taking E.D.I. too far was shown in an interview by Ian Cross of ABC 5; he interviewed Benz.

Benz taught Cross to reach out to minority-specific experts, suggesting leaving out non-minorities from interviews. This is problematic as we start by looking at an expert’s discriminatory affiliations, not their depth of knowledge.

I want to be clear in my statement. People shouldn’t be chosen as an expert based on any affiliation. They should be selected because they are the right person for the job.

Beyond certain pitfalls I believe the teachings of E.D.I. are beneficial to the newsroom.

Benz addressed the importance of listening to everybody in the newsroom and how we can understand various perspectives before reporting.

“It is about more than your skin color; it’s about your background. It’s about how you grew up. Those different backgrounds can come into a newsroom to cover a story,” said Maria Hechanova, a reporter for CBS 5.

Diverse backgrounds in the newsroom allow for conversations that lead to sympathy being shown in stories that otherwise may lack a level of sensitivity. These conversations allow us to understand affiliations that we may have unknowingly stereotyped.

Benz also taught journalists the importance of recognizing our personal biases so that we can work on mitigating them.

Often, we do not realize we have biases, and it takes a moment of awakening to realize them. Benz outlines how by recognizing these shortcomings, only then can one work on correcting them.

“I have always had to strike a balance between being the black voice in the newsroom, while not being pigeonholed as the black reporter,” said Jamar Younger, communications coordinator for Arizona Charter Schools Association.

Today we are actively working to include people of all affiliations, without stereotyping them. One of the most important steps humans have taken towards E.D.I.

Going forward, we must create a foundation for E.D.I. to succeed into the long-term, and to succeed into the long-term we must not think it but live it.

“Diversity and inclusion is something that, when it is happening, I don’t notice it. It’s like oxygen. You notice it when it is gone,” said U.S. House Representative Jennifer London.

I believe this quote outlines how E.D.I. should work, and I believe the best way to accomplish that goal is through the nation’s youth.

Children are moldable. They look up to us to create a better world around them, and if we teach them to respect one another and live by the golden rule, “treat others how you want to be treated,” then we may truly live in a world of equity, diversity, and inclusion.