A message from NLA Executive Director, Myriam Márquez
Dear NLA Members and Supporters:
As we head into Spring, I want to update you on what we have been up to this first quarter of 2023. A big Thank You to our partners at Trusting News and Spaceship Media for a successful Dimensions of Difference workshop in February. This dynamic virtual workshop was held over five days lasting no more than 90 minutes each time and was free to newsrooms with at least one NLA member. Designed to help newsrooms create better, more accurate content by identifying, understanding and talking about their own differences internally, the leaders at participating newsrooms came away with fresh plans to provide expansive coverage of the complex communities they serve. We look forward to more opportunities to offer this highly regarded program, which was rated 4.5 out of 5 in value to the participating newsrooms that included print, digital and broadcast media.
We wrapped up Sunshine Week (March 12-18) with strong engagement on our sunshineweek.org social media channels, in partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). We make a great team! We appreciate all the newsrooms that shared their #sunshineweek postings on FOI tips and resources, news stories, columns and videos. And special thanks to the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) for working with NLA and SPJ to host a virtual panel discussion on the award-winning “Bad Press” documentary highlighting the fight to maintain a free press and open information at Muscogee Nation and other tribal governments. See you next year to celebrate Sunshine Week March 10-16, 2024. Between now and then, we all have much work ahead to continue to protect Americans’ right to know.
On the diversity front, NLA partnered with the SPJ Los Angeles Chapter to hold a free virtual “Diversity in News Leadership” panel March 28, hosted by NLA Diversity Committee co-chairs Cristina Silva, managing editor at USA TODAY, and Sharif Durhams, deputy managing editor at The Washington Post.
The panel discussion by Axios Editor-in-Chief Sara Kehalani Goo, CBS Chicago investigative reporter and NABJ President Dorothy Tucker, El Paso Times Editor-in-Chief Tim Archuleta and Telemundo Orlando President Migdalia Figueroa was exceptional. Don’t miss out on more of these solutions-oriented discussions this year, and if you missed this outstanding discussion, you can view it here.
In the meantime, we are reviewing proposals received from top research universities to conduct the next diversity survey. More news to come on that front this summer. Please send any suggestions or questions to diversity@newsleaders.org. We value your opinions – they will help NLA strengthen and grow our survey participation rate as we move forward, and those findings will help newsroom leaders improve their hiring and promotion practices.
We can’t continue to do all that we do without you, our members, sponsors and supporters. Let me know what we can do to help your newsrooms during often difficult times. Email me at mmarquez@newsleaders.org. We are here to help, providing a vast network that empowers news leaders to build diverse, sustainable newsrooms that reflect and give voice to the communities they serve.
Myriam Márquez