CAJ launches third annual Canadian Newsroom Diversity Survey

OTTAWA, ON, March 15, 2023 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists is pleased to announce the launch of the 2023 Canadian Newsroom Diversity Survey — Canada's annual national media diversity survey.

This is the third year that the survey is being sent out to newsroom leaders nationwide. Last year's survey saw 242 media outlets participate in the survey.

The CAJ is Canada's largest national professional organization for journalists from all media, representing more than 1,300 members across the country. The CAJ's primary roles are to provide high-quality professional development for its members and public-interest advocacy. (CNW Group/Canadian Association of Journalists)

"The Canadian Newsroom Diversity Survey is a critical exercise to help understand and evaluate our industry's commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives," said CAJ president Brent Jolly. "The number of outlets participating increased from year one to year two. We look forward to participation in this year's survey to be even stronger than ever before."

Last year marked our second diversity survey and yielded results sharing data for 5,012 journalists. This survey built on the success of the inaugural 2021 survey which saw responses from 3,873 journalists.

This third year of the survey asks the same questions as last year's survey.

"We will be able to measure whether or not newsrooms are becoming more or less diverse by comparing the data year over year," said Jolly. "I encourage all newsrooms to fill out the survey."

Last year's survey was the first time the CAJ was able to compare year-over-year statistics. The percentage of white journalists rose from 74.9 per cent in 2021 to 77.9 per cent in 2022. Indigenous journalists saw a drop from 6.4 per cent in 2021 to 4.6 per cent in 2022. Latin journalists saw a slight drop in 2022 from 1.3 per cent in 2021 to 1.2 per cent.

Other key findings from the 2022 survey include:

• Fifty per cent of all newsroom staff identify as women, compared to 49 per cent who identify as men and 0.4 per cent who identify as non-binary.
• About 8 in 10 newsrooms reported having no Latin, Mixed Race or Middle Eastern journalists on staff.
• About 8 in 10 newsrooms reported having no Black or Indigenous journalists on staff.
• Eighty-three per cent of supervisors identify as white, compared to 2.7 per cent who identify as Black, 3.5 per cent identify as Indigenous and 5.5 per cent who identify as Asian.
• Seventy-seven per cent of newsrooms report having no visible minorities or Indigenous people in top three leadership roles.
• Black journalists are more likely to work in a part-time role, compared to a supervisor role, with 2.7 per cent of supervisors identifying as Black and 4.3 per cent of part-time employees identifying as Black.
• Only 0.2 per cent of supervisors identify as non-binary, compared to 2.5 per cent of interns.

This survey is made possible through the support of numerous generous partners including the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF), Qlik, the News Leaders Association and the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec. The CRRF has generously provided three years of funding to strengthen the administration of the survey; this includes hiring a part-time diversity survey officer who will help increase the number of newsrooms participating. Qlik provided data analysis and visualizations that made the statistics in the 2022 report possible as well as the interactive website.

Starting today, the third annual survey is being sent to the editor-in-chief, or their equivalent, at radio, television, digital and print outlets across the country. The CAJ will maintain a running list of the newsrooms that have been sent the survey and will provide regular updates on which newsrooms have responded.

The results of the survey will be made publicly available following the June 2, 2023 response deadline. For transparency, a full PDF version of the survey text is publicly available. If you are a newsroom leader that did not receive an editable survey copy, please contact [email protected] to receive one. To learn about the diversity survey, visit: https://caj.ca/programs/diversity-survey/

The CAJ is Canada's largest national professional organization for journalists from all media, representing more than 1,300 members across the country. The CAJ's primary roles are to provide high-quality professional development for its members and public-interest advocacy.

SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists

Brent Jolly, CAJ President, [email protected]