Issac Bailey, a professor specializing in race and journalism at Davidson College, will join The Eagle’s weekly staff meeting on Tuesday for a mandatory workshop about reporting on race, Editor-in-Chief Sophie Austin recently announced.
In addition to being a professor, Bailey is a journalist and 2014 Harvard Neiman fellow. During the workshop, Bailey will speak with Eagle staffers about identifying and combating implicit bias, among other things.
During section meetings following the workshop, managing editors will ask their staffers to reflect on and discuss Bailey’s workshop.
The mandatory workshop is a continuation of The Eagle’s efforts to ensure its staff is more equitable and inclusive when covering marginalized communities and groups.
Earlier this semester, Eagle staffers heard from School of Communication professor John Watson, who spoke about media ethics and communication law.
The paper has also worked to diversify its coverage this semester. El Águila, The Eagle’s new Spanish section, launched earlier this spring, and numerous sports, news and opinion articles were published in recognition of Black History Month in February.
Staffers at a recent meeting of the paper’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group spoke about initial goals for The Eagle’s next round of recruitment.
Diversifying the staff with younger and more racially diverse students will remain priorities. To jumpstart this effort, Eagle staffers in D.C. will soon print and distribute flyers to the dorm halls housing American University students.
The DEI group will develop a more comprehensive strategy in the coming weeks.
DEI members also discussed building the paper’s sense of community during the recent meeting. Soon, staffers will be asked to fill out an anonymous survey that asks about the existing sense of community and what can be done to strengthen it, given the paper’s virtual modality.
The group is also planning a game night to occur before the end of the semester.
