By David Yarnold, San Jose Mercury News

Readers find newspapers to be more credible when they see their communities represented regularly.

In fact, the National Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy projects in 1999 and 2000 were based on the belief that diversity is a core component of credibility and accuracy. More than 95 percent of editors who participated in the two Time-Out efforts to improve diversity in their coverage agreed with that premise.

An example: If reporters and photographers visit a poor side of town only when crime or mayhem breaks out, the newspaper creates no context for those events. That distorted view of a community ignores family life, religion, the simple joys that we all share. The ASNE study and others demonstrate repeatedly that, to the extent readers see themselves in our newspapers, they view us as credible.

If we’re going to create context for communities, we have to see them true and whole, defining diversity broadly: gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, political affiliation, socioeconomic status, physical ability.

ON THE WEB To read the full report on the 2000 National Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy, go to www.asne.org/kiosk/ diversity/timeoutII/.

The National Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy yielded many good ideas aimed at improving credibility:

• Emphasize diversity during job interviews and orientation.
• Do regular content audits.
• Make a discussion about diversity a part of the editing process for each story.
• Get your assigning editors out of the office and into the community.
• Create a beat for senior citizen issues.
• Have veteran staffers lead field trips of undercovered communities.
• Create an “Off the Beaten Path Award” for the best story using an unusual source.
• Hold community conversations to address concerns of a specific group.
• Start a scholarship program for minority high school seniors.
• Consider adding diversity to your news mission statement. Here’s part of ours, which we print daily on page 2A: “We will reflect the changing demographics of the community in both coverage and hiring, recognizing that diversity is a core component of accuracy.”