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
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