Issues of Diversity in Student Newspapers
A troublesome development in student newspapers of the United States is the lack of editorial diversity displayed. Studies by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE) focusing on African American students have found that as few as 2.6% of editors of all student newspapers are of African-American descent, with other minorities showing similar trending. These numbers are not much better at schools with credited journalism schools. In these institutions only 4.4% of editors are of African American descent. Both of these percentages are significantly below the percentage of population African- Americans make up in the total United States. Such skewed demographics in these publications could result in newspapers that only reflect the outlooks and values of a particular segment of the student population, doing a disservice to each campus community. It is unclear what options there are to rectify this situation. The JBHE does not suggest any type of affirmative action program for student publications at this point in time.
Read more about this topic: School Paper, Student Press in The US
Famous quotes containing the words issues, diversity, student and/or newspapers:
“The hard truth is that what may be acceptable in elite culture may not be acceptable in mass culture, that tastes which pose only innocent ethical issues as the property of a minority become corrupting when they become more established. Taste is context, and the context has changed.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“... city areas with flourishing diversity sprout strange and unpredictable uses and peculiar scenes. But this is not a drawback of diversity. This is the point ... of it.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)
“I heard a Californian student in Heidelberg say, in one of his calmest moods, that he would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Reform keeps many scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)