The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists

The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists

Journalism has long been criticized for its lack of diversity, both in the newsrooms and in content production. In response, media professionals, policymakers, and even some scholars commonly assume that hiring journalists from minoritized groups would lead to a more diverse and inclusive news cover...

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Dans:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cs,
Auteur principal: Louazon, Elena
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Langue:Anglais
Publié: Comunicação e sociedade 2026
Sujets:
jornalismo
diversidade
rotinas
discriminações
jornalistas minorizados
journalism
diversity
routines
discriminations
minoritized journalists
Accès en ligne:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
id openedition-oai:revues.org:cs_16402
record_format openedition
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic jornalismo
diversidade
rotinas
discriminações
jornalistas minorizados
journalism
diversity
routines
discriminations
minoritized journalists
spellingShingle jornalismo
diversidade
rotinas
discriminações
jornalistas minorizados
journalism
diversity
routines
discriminations
minoritized journalists
Louazon, Elena
The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists
description Journalism has long been criticized for its lack of diversity, both in the newsrooms and in content production. In response, media professionals, policymakers, and even some scholars commonly assume that hiring journalists from minoritized groups would lead to a more diverse and inclusive news coverage — or, put simply, that “diverse” journalists would produce more “diversity-related” content. Yet, interviews with LGBT journalists and racialized journalists working in French-speaking Belgium call this assumption into question.Drawing on 61 semi-structured interviews, this research challenges institutional discourses that frame minoritized journalists as a solution to the lack of diversity in media content. The findings highlight three key issues: minoritized journalists feel that they have a limited influence on newsroom content due to routines and bias, their efforts to improve representation result in unpaid, unrecognized and invisible labor and they face professional risks for engaging in diversity-related work.Systemic barriers embedded within newsroom routines, editorial gatekeeping and entrenched journalistic norms significantly restrict minoritized journalists’ capacity to influence media narratives. As a result, they often find their ability to shape coverage severely constrained. Yet, pushing back against these institutionalized practices and ideological frameworks in an effort to foster more inclusive reporting demands considerable labor — labor that is frequently invisible, uncompensated, and disproportionately borne by journalists from minoritized groups. Moreover, this study reveals a distinct professional penalty associated with working on diversity. Many minoritized journalists recount being cast as biased simply for defending stories that reflect the realities of their own communities, further reinforcing their precarious position within news organizations.
author Louazon, Elena
author_facet Louazon, Elena
author_sort Louazon, Elena
title The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists
title_short The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists
title_full The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists
title_fullStr The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists
title_full_unstemmed The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists
title_sort invisible costs of working on “diversity” for minoritized journalists
publisher Comunicação e sociedade
publishDate 2026
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cs
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/cs/16402
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spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:cs_16402 en https://journals.openedition.org/cs/16402 2026-01-07T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/15gsl https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Invisible Costs of Working on “Diversity” for Minoritized Journalists Comunicação e sociedade Centro de estudos de comunicação e sociedade info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2183-3575 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1645-2089 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cs Louazon, Elena jornalismo diversidade rotinas discriminações jornalistas minorizados journalism diversity routines discriminations minoritized journalists Journalism has long been criticized for its lack of diversity, both in the newsrooms and in content production. In response, media professionals, policymakers, and even some scholars commonly assume that hiring journalists from minoritized groups would lead to a more diverse and inclusive news coverage — or, put simply, that “diverse” journalists would produce more “diversity-related” content. Yet, interviews with LGBT journalists and racialized journalists working in French-speaking Belgium call this assumption into question.Drawing on 61 semi-structured interviews, this research challenges institutional discourses that frame minoritized journalists as a solution to the lack of diversity in media content. The findings highlight three key issues: minoritized journalists feel that they have a limited influence on newsroom content due to routines and bias, their efforts to improve representation result in unpaid, unrecognized and invisible labor and they face professional risks for engaging in diversity-related work.Systemic barriers embedded within newsroom routines, editorial gatekeeping and entrenched journalistic norms significantly restrict minoritized journalists’ capacity to influence media narratives. As a result, they often find their ability to shape coverage severely constrained. Yet, pushing back against these institutionalized practices and ideological frameworks in an effort to foster more inclusive reporting demands considerable labor — labor that is frequently invisible, uncompensated, and disproportionately borne by journalists from minoritized groups. Moreover, this study reveals a distinct professional penalty associated with working on diversity. Many minoritized journalists recount being cast as biased simply for defending stories that reflect the realities of their own communities, further reinforcing their precarious position within news organizations. O jornalismo tem sido há muito criticado pela sua falta de diversidade, tanto nas redações como na produção de conteúdos. Em resposta, profissionais dos média, decisores políticos e até alguns académicos assumem frequentemente que contratar jornalistas de grupos minorizados levaria a uma cobertura noticiosa mais diversa e inclusiva — ou, dito de forma simples, que jornalistas “diversos” produziriam mais conteúdos “diversos”. No entanto, entrevistas com jornalistas LGBT e jornalistas racializados que trabalham na Bélgica francófona põem em causa esta suposição.Com base em 61 entrevistas semiestruturadas, esta investigação questiona os discursos institucionais que enquadram os jornalistas minorizados como solução para a falta de diversidade nos conteúdos mediáticos. Os resultados destacam três questões centrais: os jornalistas minorizados sentem que têm uma influência limitada sobre o conteúdo das redações devido a rotinas e preconceitos; os seus esforços para melhorar a representação resultam num trabalho não remunerado, não reconhecido e invisível; e enfrentam riscos profissionais por se envolverem em trabalho relacionado com a diversidade.As barreiras sistémicas incorporadas nas rotinas das redações, na filtragem editorial e nas normas jornalísticas enraizadas restringem significativamente a capacidade dos jornalistas minorizados de influenciar as narrativas mediáticas. Como resultado, estes veem frequentemente a sua capacidade de influenciar a cobertura extremamente limitada. Contudo, resistir a estas práticas institucionalizadas e a estes enquadramentos ideológicos, na tentativa de promover uma cobertura noticiosa mais inclusiva, exige um esforço considerável — um esforço muitas vezes invisível, não remunerado e assumido de forma desproporcionada por jornalistas de grupos minorizados. Além disso, este estudo revela uma penalização profissional particular associada ao trabalho sobre diversidade. Muitos jornalistas minorizados relatam ser considerados tendenciosos apenas por defenderem histórias que refletem as realidades das suas próprias comunidades, reforçando ainda mais a sua posição precária dentro das organizações noticiosas.

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