Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

'Killer business case' for diversity in newsrooms

'Killer business case' for diversity in newsrooms

AS MEDIA companies around the world struggle to stay afloat, ensuring more diversity among journalists and interviewees is necessary for newsrooms' survival, top editors said on Thursday (18).

The business case for diversity is clear, whether in building credibility by representing society or finding stories that interest and engage readers, panellists told the Thomson Reuters Foundation's annual Trust Conference.


"From a financial standpoint, there are so many different advertisers who want to reach different segments of our population," said Danielle Belton, who in April became editor in chief of US online news company HuffPost.

"If we're not making the effort to actually reach those individuals, we're basically just saying we don't want them."

Black Lives Matter protests across the world last year at the height of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic forced many, often financially struggling, newsrooms to question whether they reflected the communities they were covering.

With advertisers and audiences shifting to social media and tech platforms, many news organisations have been forced to cut costs and jobs.

The number of journalists in US newsrooms fell 26 per cent to 85,000 between 2008 and 2020, according to Pew Research Center, as media companies continue to grapple with developing sustainable digital business models.

In 2020, 73 per cent of US TV journalists and 85 per cent of radio news staff were non-Hispanic white, compared to 63 per cent of the overall population, according to a study by the Radio Television Digital News Association and Syracuse University.

Nina Goswami of the BBC cited the success of the British public broadcaster's 50:50 initiative, started by journalists to work towards ensuring half of all on-air guests and quoted sources were women.

"On our online platforms ... 44 per cent of 16 to 34-year-olds are actually enjoying our content a lot more," said Goswami, the BBC's creative diversity lead.

"And the big killer business case is that 58 per cent of women of that age group are consuming more BBC content."

In an analysis of the front pages of 11 major British newspapers during one week in 2020, advocacy group Women in Journalism found that only a quarter of the stories were written by women and none were by Black reporters.

(Thomson Reuters Foundation)

More For You

India-Canada-iStock

India and Canada have appointed new envoys in a step to restore diplomatic ties strained since 2023. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Envoys appointed as India, Canada move to restore diplomatic ties

INDIA and Canada on Thursday announced the appointment of new envoys to each other’s capitals, in a step aimed at restoring strained ties following the killing of a Sikh separatist in 2023.

India has named senior diplomat Dinesh K Patnaik as the next high commissioner to Ottawa, while Canada appointed Christopher Cooter as its new envoy to New Delhi.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rajitha Senaratne arrested

Security officers escort Sri Lankan former fisheries minister, Rajitha Senaratne (C), outside a court in Colombo on August 29, 2025. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Getty Images

Rajitha Senaratne detained as Sri Lanka intensifies anti-corruption drive

SRI LANKAN former government minister surrendered himself to a court on Friday (29) after two months on the run, the latest high profile detention in a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown.

Anti-graft units have ramped up their investigations since president Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power in September on a promise to fight corruption.

Keep ReadingShow less
protests-uk-getty
Protesters from the group Save Our Future & Our Kids Future demonstrate against uncontrolled immigration outside the Cladhan Hotel on August 16, 2025 in Falkirk, Scotland. (Photo: Getty Images)
Getty Images

Government wins appeal over housing asylum seekers in hotel

Highlights:

  • UK appeals court overturns ruling blocking hotel use for asylum seekers
  • Judges call earlier High Court decision “seriously flawed”
  • 138 asylum seekers will not need to be relocated by September 12
  • Full hearing scheduled at the Court of Appeal in October

A UK appeals court has overturned a lower court order that had temporarily blocked the use of a hotel in Epping, northeast of London, to house asylum seekers.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK migrant tutor posts

Seema Malhotra (Photo: Getty Images)

Government scraps tutor posts for detained migrants after backlash

HOME OFFICE minister Seema Malhotra has ordered the removal of UK government job advertisements for roles such as a balloon craft tutor, which were being offered to migrants held at a detention centre in London.

The intervention followed a report in The Sun newspaper highlighting job listings worth over £30,000 a year at the Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre (HIRC).

Keep ReadingShow less
Mumbai-Reuters
A drone view of the construction work of the upcoming coastal road in Mumbai, India. (Photo credit: Reuters)
Reuters

India’s economy grows faster than expected as US tariffs pose risk

Highlights:

  • India’s GDP grew 7.8 per cent in April-June, beating forecasts of 6.7 per cent.
  • US has double tariffs on Indian imports to 50 per cent, raising export concerns.
  • Consumer spending rose 7.0 per cent year-on-year, driven by rural demand..

INDIA’s economy expanded faster than expected in the April-June quarter, even as higher US tariffs on Indian imports are set to weigh on activity in the coming months.

Keep ReadingShow less