Commitment to Diversity
As a student-run newspaper who intends to spread information to the community, it is important to remain unbiased and truthful. Diversifying sources, opinions and maintaining ethics is a part of navigating the journalism world. Here are some of the steps I have taken to ensure I am committed to having diverse voices be present in our paper and website.
NAACP Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
On March 14, 2022, I was able to attend and photograph Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to be an Antiracist at the Ford House. Along with a beautiful performance done by the nationally-acclaimed Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, the presentation was extremely moving and fortifying. Topics of white apathy and how to remove unconscious bias in journalism led to interesting discussions and a sense of growing community throughout the room: you could tell that everyone wanted to be a vessel for change. Because of this, I was inspired to use my photography as a vessel of activism and truth.
Tower Thursdays
Every Thursday the class takes a break from their work to join together and take on topics that relate to us as students. Whether it be about the LGBTQIA+ to hierarchy, the class establishes what steps we need to take in order to be more inclusive. My favorite Tower Thursday would be when we learned about Alexandra Bell, an artist who edited the The New York Times front pages to be less objective. Our discussions, research and time learning about her reminded me that as a journalist, I have the responsibility of spreading information in an unbiased format and that the way something is formatted can alter a reader’s opinion on the topic.