Developing truth tellers: Freedom Forum institute sets out to help diversify America's newsrooms through the training of minority journalists

A mortgage broker. A public school teacher. A retired elevator company employee. It's not likely that anyone would consider individuals in these jobs to be prospective journalists. Nevertheless, officials with the Freedom Forum's Diversity Institute last summer found three such individuals and several others, and trained them in an unique program designed to bring more underrepresented minorities into the newspaper journalism field. Prior to participating in the program, Diversity Institute fellows have no formal journalism training, and for three months, fully funded by the Freedom Forum, they leave their spouses, children and other loved ones behind for 12 weeks to master the journalism skills they'll need to excel.

"Before I went, I was concerned about whether you could actually fit almost four years of journalism training in 12 weeks," says Shanika Williams, a copy editor at The Tuscaloosa News (Ala.) and one of seven fellows who comprised the fifth class of Diversity Institute graduates.

"The foundational teachings and introduction to journalism were so thorough, and we were exposed to so many people who (are experts in the field). They went out of their way to make sure the fundamental tenets of journalism were instilled in us," Williams says.

Interested professionals or recent college graduates--many of whom may be already informally connected with the sponsoring paper as contributing writers, or who have submitted previous employment applications--apply to their community newspapers which then nominate them as fellowship candidates. Upon their acceptance to the Diversity Institute, newspapers then sponsor fellows and once training is complete, employ them. Applications may also be made directly to the Diversity Institute, in which case successful applicants are assigned to participating newspapers.

During training, fellows live on time campus of Vanderbilt University where they are immersed in training Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. often until well into the night. The program also includes Saturday assignments at the local newspaper, The Tennessean.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY

The Diversity Institute was developed in 2002 as part of the Freedom Forum, a three-part initiative for "tree press, free speech and tree spirit for all people" that includes the Newseum, an interactive news museum currently under construction in Washington, D.C.; the First Amendment Center, dedicated to issues of free speech; and the Diversity Institute, which, along with time First Amendment Center, is housed in the John Seigenthaler Center at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

The institute, which now boasts 42 graduates and welcomed its sixth class of fellows in June, exemplifies the kind of progress possible when there is a genuine commitment to diversity.

Robbie Morganfield, instructor/training editor at the Diversity Institute, says the motivation behind the program is inherent in the notion of a free press.

"There is a correlation there between a free press and holding a democratic awareness to have a press representative of that commitment," rays Morganfield, who has also taught at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville and Texas Christian University.

Citing the 1968 Kerner Commission Report highlighting the media's role in perpetuating the racial divide in the United States, Morganfield says the Diversity Institute is one way to enhance the democratic process.

"Newspapers are starting to understand and see the value diversity brings to their staff and their publications," he says. "If we are supposed to be truth tellers, we have to have the eyes and ears to do that. People gravitate toward issues that affect them."

Morganfield says that if diversity is lacking in the newsroom, so is community coverage.

THE QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE

Excellence is what Morganfield is most interested in imparting to the fellows who participate in the program.

He says getting people exposed to all aspects of the newsroom is perhaps one of his greatest challenges in preparing first-rate fellows, but Morganfield says the fellows' success proves it's possible.

Forty-seven newspapers have signed on to sponsor fellows, and a few have been sponsors more than once. A majority of the Diversity Institute fellows have remained with their sponsoring newspapers.

"An advantage we have is that (fellows) are not new to work," Morganfield says. "They know the value of hard work, the culture of work, and they invest what is necessary to grow into the profession."

Morganfield admittedly prepares fellows to exceed expectations, at the same time he urges them to understand their distinct perspectives in the newsroom.

His mission is to equip "confident and competent" journalists who "take the whole of who they are as an asset rather than a liability, who celebrate who they are and take that into their work," he says. "This is an opportunity for them to put their own unique stamp on their work."