Journalism's Commitment to DEIA Grows as the Diversity Pledge Institute Celebrates Its First Anniversary

The Diversity Pledge Institute has launched its Newsroom Diversity Survey Pilot, expanded its Learning Circle offerings and partnered up with The Ida B. Larry Graham, founder of DPI, stated that he started it because he believes diversity is good for journalism and newsrooms. Daphne Duret said that DPI was a lifeline for her, as well as many of his friends and colleagues in journalism. She recently joined The Marshall Project as a staff writer to cover police. "For every announcement by DPI of a new partnership, there have been many more victories in day-to-day activities of a group who are always available, always willing make a connection or give advice, and always willing do the kind of unseen works that holds our news outlets accountable for DEIA in an tangible way," she said. "With Larry's guidance I made critical connections with both national and local media outlets. This led to me landing my dream job at the Raleigh News & Observer. Graham stated that he always tells people that he wants to see DPI stop doing its work. The DPI team has been promoting their message at various journalism conferences across the country over the last few months. Gaby Martinez-Stevenson (DPI's director for institutional research) said that these conversations were a valuable addition to our work in finalizing our diversity & inclusion survey, which will officially launch in early 2023. This survey will help industry to develop a shared understanding of DEIA and help identify the best strategies and tools to address these obstacles.