Are relationships a missing link in media’s ongoing diversity problem?

Journalism is facing its own battle for hearts and minds. That’s what I took from my recent conversation with Joshunda Sanders, author of “How Racism and Sexism Killed Traditional Media: Why the Future of Journalism Depends on Women and People of Color.”

Sanders has worked as a freelancer, a reporter in newsrooms including the Austin American-Statesman, and as a researcher for the Maynard Institute. We discussed her book, the ubiquitous media diversity “problem,” and how quantitative solutions such as fellowship programs and internships alone haven’t solved it. Our conversation left me wondering whether personal relationships inside and out of the newsroom could be a missing link. “One of the main things that annoys me about the media diversity conversation is that it puts the onus on women and people of color to make the change,” she said. “It’s almost like you need a magical alignment of forces to come to your aid to become a Dean Baquet or Jill Abramson. It can’t just be that all the women or all the people of color who want to get to the top don’t have the skills or aren’t connected. It just can’t be that for the last 50 years.”