Racial and Cultural Diversity in The Newsroom

In the same way that Canadian news reporting does not reflect Canada’s multiculturalism, racial diversity ‘behind the scenes’ of news media is similarly disproportionate. Almost a quarter of the Canadian population identifies as a member of what Statistics Canada refers to as a “visible minority,” and while a 2021 study found a similar rate of representation in newsrooms, eight in ten Canadian newsrooms have no racialized journalists in leadership roles.

Diversity in Media, Journalism & News, Religion, Stereotyping

Racial and Cultural Diversity and Canadian Broadcasting Policy

Canada’s Broadcasting Act, last amended in 1991, outlines industry guidelines for portrayal of diversity.

Diversity in Media, Stereotyping, Television, Visible Minorities

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Canadian Broadcasting Policy

Canada’s Broadcasting Act, last amended in 1991, outlines industry guidelines for portrayal of diversity.

Diversity in Media, Gender Representation, 2SLGBTQ+ Representation, Stereotyping

Representation of Diversity in Media – Overview

What we see – and don’t see – in media affects how we view reality. Media works can be imagined either as mirrors that reflect an audience’s own experience, windows that give them access to experiences they otherwise wouldn’t have known, or in some cases both.

Diversity in Media, Stereotyping, Visible Minorities

Media portrayals of missing and murdered Indigenous women

That Indigenous women are likely to be victims of violence is not news: Indigenous women aged 25 to 44 are five times more likely to suffer a violent death than other women in Canada.

Indigenous People, Diversity in Media, Journalism & News, Stereotyping

Media portrayals of racial and cultural diversity - Overview

Media speaks volumes about what is important in a society. What we see in media can have an impact on how we see other groups and how we see ourselves.

Diversity in Media, Stereotyping, Visible Minorities

The impact of stereotyping on young people

Generations of North American children have grown up watching “cowboys and Indians” films and TV shows and reading books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Little House on the Prairie. Popular films and novels reinforced the notion that Indigenous people existed only in the past—forever chasing buffalo or being chased by the cavalry. These images showed them as destined to remain on the margins of “real” society. Such impressions and childhood beliefs, set at an early age, are often the hardest to shake: as Anishinaabe writer Jesse Wente explains, “In the absence of appropriate representations of Indigenous Peoples in the media, misrepresentations become the accepted ‘truth.’”[1]

Indigenous People, Diversity in Media, Stereotyping

The development of Indigenous media in Canada

Indigenous media has a long history in Canada. While the earliest newspapers aimed at Indigenous readers were published by settlers, there have been Indigenous-run papers since Ojibwa chief, doctor and publisher Peter Edmund Jones, also called Kahkewaquonaby, launched The Indian in Hagersville, Ontario, in 1885. This tradition has continued with papers such as Wawatay News, based in northern Ontario and Edmonton’s Windspeaker.[1]

Diversity in Media, Indigenous People, Stereotyping

Racial and Cultural Diversity in News Media

Objectivity and accuracy are among the most important journalistic values. Consistently, however, Canadian news media has under-represented and stereotyped racialized groups.

Diversity in Media, Journalism & News, Stereotyping, Visible Minorities