2024 Walt Fisher Lecture: Making local media more equitable and community-centered

As newsrooms around the U.S. grapple with a history of harming BIPOC communities, what would it look like to go beyond performative diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to move toward more equitable and antiracist journalism? What can we learn from the efforts of journalism organizations who have attempted (to varying degrees of success) to move their work in the direction of greater equity and community engagement? Drawing on five years of collaborative research with Philadelphia area journalism organizations and community stakeholders, Andrea Wenzel makes a case for accountability infrastructure within newsrooms and between newsrooms and communities.

Andrea Wenzel is an associate professor of journalism at Temple University’s Klein College. She is the author of Antiracist Journalism: The Challenge of Creating Equitable Local News (Columbia University Press, 2023) and Community-Centered Journalism: Engaging People, Exploring Solutions, and Building Trust (University of Illinois Press, 2020). Her research focuses on initiatives to create more connected and equitable communities and newsrooms. She co-founded the Germantown Info Hub and has been a fellow with Columbia University’s Tow Center. A former journalist, prior to academia, she spent 15 years working in public radio and international media development.