Se Busca Reporteras: Tackling Newsroom Inequities
Photo credit: H&R Foto
There are over six thousand journalists in the United States. Of the six thousand, 53.4% are women and of the 54.4 %, a little over 12% are Latinos. Latina women in newsrooms have always seen a small percentage of representation, with a shocking 3% of representation in newsrooms, according to the NLA. Newsrooms around the country have seen a slow pace and less change.
Latinx women in newsrooms continue to lack representation and the change that needs to be made, is a change that can only be made within the newsrooms.
Rebecca Aguilar recalled being the only Latina woman in a couple of newsrooms. A memory so fresh in her mind.
“Toledo. (Ohio) I was the only Latina. Chicago, pretty sure I was the only Latina there too. I don't remember, there was another Latina but I'm pretty sure she was Latina. But I think she was ashamed of it or hid it,” said Aguilar.
While working in Chicago, Aguilar was the only bilingual reporter and after moving to Corpus Christi, Texas and later to San Antonio, Texas, Aguilar was once again the only Latina in the newsroom. Working in locations where the Latinx community is significant.
Aguilar grew up in Ohio and has been a reporter for 40 years, with 28 of those years in Television. The reporter also has 50 awards and nominations under her belt and is the first Latina president for the Society of Professional Journalists. To bring diversity, it all starts with change in newsrooms. Aguilar shared three reasons she believes Latinas in newsrooms continue to show a slow pace:
White men in leadership, whose comfort zone is within their own white community, lacking an open heart. When pushed to bring in diversity, they turn to hire a white woman.
People of color with diverse backgrounds tend to stray away from speaking up, out of worry that it could impact evaluations.
“And number three is people of color, who are put in leadership positions, but are also afraid to speak up,” said Aguilar.
Rebecca Aguilar is the administrator for the Facebook group, Latinas in Journalism. A group where Latinx women journalists can share issues, seek advice and guidance, and more importantly, encouragement in a market that is still lacking diversity.
USC’s Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Access, Laura Castañeda stated that the question why the numbers are low can stem from many different reasons.
“You know, the goal a long time ago was to try and reach parity right with our demographics. Right now, our demographics are that almost 19% of the US population is Latinx,” said Castañeda. “And the goal at one point was to try and reach demographic parity. So, in other words, we wanted to make sure that in newsrooms at least 19% of reporters, photographers, editors, etc, producers were 19%, we're Latinx.”
Castañeda said they are below the 19%, depending on the newsroom that may be in a Spanish language environment.
Yvette Cabrera shared one of the reasons she decided to become a journalist.
“At the time that I was going to college, I remember reading the newspapers and seeing the television broadcasts, the news broadcasts,” said Cabrera. “And most of the coverage involving the Latino community was tied to either crime or gang violence.”
A moment in time that Cabrera, being from Southern California, grew up watching Mexicans succeed in different types of careers and contribute to the economy.
“The reason why I got into journalism was to try to tell those stories and try to tell an accurate story about us as a community,” said Cabrera.
Cabrera is the current president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, or NAHJ, and a senior reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, an investigative non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C.
Her parents are from Mexico, making her and her sister first-generation students to pursue college. While in college, Cabrera started as a reporter with the campus paper, eventually moving up to Editor-in-Chief. She was the first Latina to be Editor-in-Chief in Occidental College history.
In her role as Editor-in-Chief, Cabrera was able to bring in diverse stories and help the college grow its diversity.
“Every story that I told in college sort of helped reinforce the idea that there is a huge benefit to telling those stories and seeing it, I'm seeing ourselves reflected on news pages, and I really wanted to pursue that as a professional,” said Cabrera.
Early in Cabrera’s career, while working at The Morning Call in Pennsylvania, as part of the Times Mirror group, Cabrera was one of two Latinos on staff. While the community expressed excitement to have her on the team, in many of the rooms Cabrera was in, she recalled feeling “isolated” while covering stories alone, with little to none understanding or support from editors.
As time went on, changes in the newsroom slowly shifted, as the call for diversity began.
Journalism associations like NAHJ have been working to change the numbers in newsrooms, oftentimes, moving forward and moving back. Not having enough Latinos in leadership is one of the key factors Cabrera listed. Bringing diversity into newsrooms, with Latinas, give the ability to have different questions asked and different perspectives given.
“If we're not looking over our shoulders, at the generation that's coming behind us, we won't ever see the numbers really, truly that we need, to ensure that all across a newsroom across newsrooms around the United States, you have that diversity,” said Cabrera. “And the way you get that, is by advocating, by mentoring young journalists, by helping everyone else who is trying to either break into the business or stay in the business.”
