Perspective of a newsroom editor

When I came to WESA in June 2023, I immediately faced a staff-wide request to help assess the cultural health of the organization by answering a third-party survey. While I had no complaints and was happy to see WESA unionizing, it was difficult to avoid being candid about the fact that most of my colleagues are as white as I am and seemingly from higher socioeconomic brackets — in stark contrast to much of the Pittsburgh community we serve.

But also like me, everyone seemed to care a lot about diversity and equity.

I jumped at the opportunity to participate in the second American Press Institute Inclusion Index cohort. In previous roles, I’ve been able to learn how to cultivate diversity within organizations in an effort to meaningfully serve diverse and often underserved communities. API’s training was well aligned with lessons I’ve learned elsewhere, and I found that it not only reiterated best practices but deepened and improved on those previous experiences.

But throughout the cohort training — asset mapping, listening session techniques and examples, tips and guidance on how to identify and engage with underserved communities, etc. — the aspect of the program I found the most beneficial was the community advisory committee.

API not only identified a diverse array of community members to participate in monthly meetings, provide guidance and check in with us, but it also modeled how to properly accommodate those participants with food, guidance and financial compensation. The committee therefore seemed appropriately bought-in to the effort and took time to seek out and think about our coverage. They also shared that coverage within local circles, offered candid feedback and shared valuable story ideas and sources.

The most salient point reiterated throughout the program was that, in order to meaningfully serve the community, you have to build meaningful relationships. There’s really no hack or shortcut. You have to genuinely care, and that means spending time together.

The advisory committee truly allowed for that. After breaking bread together a few times, “the media” grew a face and some humanity, and “the community” became more complex and interesting. Real relationships started to emerge. Laughing together became authentic and not an obligatory, anxiety-induced social lubricant.

Without this injection of intentional yet authentic relationship-building, I think the program would possibly have been less impactful.

Community engagement and collective freedom

This example of deliberate training through the local news advisory committee has truly been a missing key in other engagement efforts I’ve seen and been involved with in the past. In and of itself, it is no guarantee of cultural change and alone doesn’t amount to much. But I believe the financial investment in our neighbors and for their voices makes moving the cultural needle both in our organization and the community possible.

I think of Paulo Freire whose seminal work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, argues that in order to see meaningful change in a society where inequity persists, there need be objective change in how that society works and subjective change in how people perceive the world. Freire posits both are necessary because people and the world are intertwined. These changes can only occur through the combination of reflection and action aimed at transforming the world. When only one occurs, he says, “true liberation” is not possible.

The API Inclusion Index falls in line with this pedagogy because it puts the underserved community in the driving seat and compensates them for their critical role. Without that compensation action, we rely on the goodwill of those community members — often the least prepared to take time away from their busy lives — while everyone else in the room is financially whole.

“Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both [oppressors and the oppressed],” Freire says in his book.

I don’t think the ambitious change API aims for with this training is possible without finding the avenues to empower community and value their invaluable contributions.

Maintaining momentum through sustained engagement

In light of this experience, I’ve been meeting with WESA leadership to stress the importance of the community advisory role within our organization on an ongoing basis. Cultural change requires so much heart and more than a little skin in the game. And, often, so much patience. I think the effort will also require a larger ecosystem of media partners.

But these barriers aside, it’s a promising development that these best practices and conversations are happening. I certainly can’t unknow what I’ve learned through observing the community advisory board in action (and incorporating my colleagues into those discussions). I’ve likened it to self-care or an exercise regime and self-discipline — when we do it, it feels good and bears such beautiful fruit. How does one maintain such discipline? That’s the work in front of WESA.

I believe the answer will be found through partnerships with other media organizations as well as continuing to iterate on the engagement plan we’ve developed through the API Inclusion Index cohort. I know there’s enthusiasm in Pittsburgh to see the work sustained, even if money seems scarce.

Glynis Board serves as the education and health & science editor in WESA’s newsroom and has 16 years of experience reporting, producing and editing in the broadcasting industry. She holds a Master’s in Education and a Bachelor of Arts. She also spent a year as an adjunct journalism professor at West Virginia University. She met regularly with API’s advisory committee.