 The Honolulu Advertiser
PERCENTAGE OF MINORITIES ON STAFF: 100,001 to 250,000 CIRCULATION [Chart]
Mark Platte
Vice President and Editor
The Honolulu Advertiser
 Please describe your approach to increasing diversity in your newsroom. Each hire is made with a heavy emphasis on diversity. No department is exempt from this mandate. If a candidate pool lacks diverse applicants, we double our efforts at outreach, asking our staffers for recommendations for candidates, identifying promising candidates among our interns and on occasion, taking a calculated risk on a candidate who is green but has high potential.
What is the toughest obstacle to success and how have you worked to overcome it? Certain groups in our diverse community are not adequately represented in the newsroom. Native Hawaiians, for example, are particularly difficult to recruit, in part because journalism is not a field they historically gravitate to. We work with community organizations representing underrepresented groups and invite them in to discuss their issues as well as our diversity needs.
In our selection of interns, diversity is one of our top selection priorities. We look for talent and skills but also give heavy weight to candidates who are not well represented among our staff.
We look for opportunities to work with high schools with concentrations of underrepresented groups so that we can meet with promising students and encourage their interest in journalism.
We also work with the Asian American Journalists Association Hawaii chapter, which shares funding of an internship aimed at expanding representation in the newsroom of underrepresented groups.
What are the benefits/paybacks of greater diversity? Diversity is not just a requirement for fair and full coverage. Diversity also is a smart business strategy. Each of our diverse groups can patronize our advertisers, but the groups won’t come to us if we lack the kind of content that appeals to them. If people do not see themselves reflected in our pages, we have not only failed to live up to our mission statement to represent all of Hawaii but we also have reduced our appeal to the broadest audience.
Our diverse staffing allows us to better communicate with minority groups, some of whose members can be understandably suspicious of the press. Our connections can pay significant dividends in better story ideas, greater access to subjects and more accurate and insightful coverage, all of which elevates the quality of our products.
How does greater diversity in your newsroom affect content? Because we come from various ethnic, social, lifestyle and geographic groups, we can provide multiple perspectives in generating story ideas, suggesting sources and developing images, presentations and interactive features. The diversity of subjects in our pages and representation of a range of cultures are possible because we live in the communities that we write about and are steeped in their culture. Many of us have grown up in the islands, so we’re familiar with a range of ethnic groups, often sharing their food and joining in their celebrations. Just as critical, our diversity helps us avoid cultural slip-ups. We can check in with staffers from particular communities or contact community people listed in our minority source list whenever sensitive issues arise.
Please cite one example of a story that was impacted by diversity in your newsroom. Homelessness is a major issue in Hawaii, where housing is very expensive. One of our page designers, a native Hawaiian, alerted the City Desk to the rising numbers of homeless people on the beaches of Waianae, an area with a high concentration of Hawaiians.
The series that eventually unfolded was an eye-opening look at the thousands of people who, for lack of money to rent or buy a home, live on the beach. The series generated dozens of contributions and concern from readers and prompted action from state agencies to accelerate the building of transitional housing, especially for homeless families with children.
What advice do you have for editors seeking to improve diversity in their newsrooms? Do a lot of outreach in communities that are underrepresented among your staff. Bring in people from these communities for brown bag sessions, talk to them about their issues and ask them to help you with your diversity hiring challenges. Mentor and develop high-school students from minority communities and encourage them to consider journalism careers. Keep in touch and follow the progress of high potential writers, photographers, graphic artists and online designers.
Track promising, diverse prospects working for smaller publications and let them know that you would like to stay in communication, even if you don’t have an immediate opening.
Keep in close touch with minority journalist groups. Post your job openings on their Web sites and attend conventions to meet candidates in person.
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