To increase the diversity of the voices on air and to better reflect the communities it serves, Wisconsin Public Radio created a transparent sourcing project.
Two comprehensive WPR reports have been released examining the results of the demographic surveys that the station conducted between 2019 and 2021 in which respondents were asked to provide their race, ethnicity, gender, and zip code.
“As a public media organization, WPR recognizes its responsibility to represent the communities it serves,” the 2020 demographic report states. “This includes highlighting voices from people of all backgrounds. But the report shows significant shortcomings in creating a place where all Wisconsinites are welcome, included and heard.”
The 2020 survey results, for example, indicated that respondents were widely spread across the state and split fairly evenly between men and women, which was reassuring. However, the data also established that over 85 percent of news sources were white.
The data WPR continued to gather into 2021 showed promising gradual improvements. The subsequent 2021 report showed “improved representation in the race and/or ethnicity category.” The percentage of sources who identify as BIPOC increased from 14.5 percent in the initial 2020 report to just over 19 percent in the 2021 report.
“While there is more work to be done, having regular feedback of our sources’ race, ethnicity, gender, age, and location helped us set goals and direct our energy toward tangible improvement,” Jennifer Dargan, one of the sourcing project’s originators, said. “And sharing the results with our listeners adds an important layer of accountability.”
As a public media organization, PBS standards are committed to the presentation of inclusive content that embodies perspectives from people of “different backgrounds, such as geographic areas, ethnicities, genders, age groups, religious beliefs, political viewpoints, and income levels” as a core tenet of the Editorial Standards & Practices.
Dargan explained that, in 2015, WPR talk shows “began to try to track demographics of guests by doing research and making educated guesses,” a move that became the precursor to the survey project. Initially, Dargan said, the producers would try to guess the demographic background of sources. Dargan and her team quickly realized that “the only way to get the true story was to ask people information.”
So, in 2018, WPR started working on a project to ask their sources how they identified, and in August 2019 the station started sending out surveys.
WPR Interim Senior Content Director Noah Ovshinsky described how data-gathering was purposefully streamlined to accommodate journalists’ tight schedules. He explained that the process was “built into [WPR’s] content management systems,” where reporters and producers would enter names and e-mail addresses of sources for a news segment or story. Short e-mail surveys focusing on age, race, gender, and zip code would then be generated to these sources.
WPR also consulted with survey experts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on wording and timing to maximize the results they received. Dargan and Ovshinsky both view the 45 percent average response rate to the surveys as a positive gauge of respondents’ interest.
On a broader scale, the survey revealed critical information that has helped WPR ramp up its efforts to create an environment that actively nurtures diversity, equity, and inclusion. For instance, the station has designed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Toolkit to help harness resources to expand inclusivity in news reporting. Maureen McCollum, executive producer of the station’s “Wisconsin Life” program, who spearheaded the toolkit project, says it “connects content creators to information on diversity, equity, and inclusion in media that helps strengthen [WPR’s] stories and build relationships with many communities.”
These public Source Demographic Reports demonstrate not only the principle of inclusiveness in action, but also the principles of transparency and accountability, both cornerstones of the PBS Editorial Standards. In proactively creating ways to measurably “improve the demographic diversity of people on air” to address “the lack of representation of marginalized communities in stories,” WPR is exemplifying the goal of being accountable and responsive to the public.
Dargan explained that as the survey results came in, producers and reporters would meet and have “more conversations about it; and talk shows would do ‘look-backs’ and ‘look-forwards’” regarding the data and its implications. The content team also continued to review quarterly reports on the source demographic data to facilitate increased ongoing awareness of their sourcing choices.
Ovshinsky is encouraged by the improvement year over year and said the surveys have introduced a higher level of accountability. However, WPR recognizes that the survey data show an ongoing need for more representative news sources when it comes to race and ethnicity.
“We have to do a better job of serving the various communities around Wisconsin that are not all white or male,” he said.
Dargan in turn sounds watchfully optimistic. Her definition of success regarding the surveys is both broad and nuanced. Dargan said, “The census was more to guide [WPR] toward a milestone, but not necessarily the be all end all.”
One critical resource for public media stations looking to broaden their sources is the NPR Diverse Sources Database that helps producers find experts from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the media.
Contact Standards & Practices at standards@pbs.org.