Media Briefing: Media companies’ DE&I follow-throughs fall short

By Tim Peterson

Welcome to the Media Briefing, a new weekly feature for Digiday+ members that goes deep into the world of media companies, platforms and independent content creators. The Media Briefing will be edited by senior media editor Tim Peterson with weekly contributions from senior reporter Kayleigh Barber; media reporter Sara Guaglione; platforms, data and privacy reporter Kate Kaye; and senior editor, research and features Max Willens. New editions will hit Digiday.com and inboxes every Thursday.

We’re making this new briefing available to anyone for the first two editions (1/28 and 2/4) after which it will be exclusively available to Digiday+ members. Join Digiday+ now to prevent losing access, and use promo code MEDIABRIEFING for 10% off a 1-year membership.

The Media Briefing this week looks at whether media employees feel like companies are following through on their diversity, equity and inclusion pledges made last summer.

The equity issue with media companies’ DE&I efforts
News publishers’ media literacy campaigns
A Q&A with The Daily Beast’s Mia Libby
Facebook’s newsletter plans, Business Insider’s new name and more

The equity issue with media companies’ DE&I efforts

Media companies’ efforts to improve the level of diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations have an equity issue of their own.

Black employees and employees of color already feel that they have to work harder than their white counterparts to receive the same level of pay and opportunities for promotions. But they are also being asked to be the ones working harder to close that equity gap and typically without receiving additional pay for their efforts and often with their only qualifications the color of their skin. “I’m not a DE&I expert just because I’m Black. I don’t want that responsibility. It’s not my area of expertise, so I don’t want to be in that position, especially if I’m not getting compensated for it,” said a current Vice employee.

The key hits:

Black people and people of color working at media companies feel like they are being tasked with working on the companies’ DE&I efforts in addition to their main jobs.
Media companies are not always compensating employees for the additional DE&I work.
The equity issue around media companies’ DE&I efforts has led some employees to quit.

In light of the focus on racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd last May, media companies have paid a lot of lip service to DE&I, but they have been less forthcoming in financially supporting those efforts within their companies, according to current and former employees from companies including Hearst, Penske Media Corporation, ViacomCBS and Vice Media Group who spoke with Digiday on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “That’s the equity piece where they miss out. They want us to do this work, but they’re not paying us for it,” said the Vice employee.

Internal organizations for employees who are Black or people of color — commonly called employee resource groups or community groups — have been asked to take on new responsibilities related to companies’ DE&I initiatives. Some group members feel these additional responsibilities, such as providing …read more

Source:: Digiday