“We as Indigenous people have been left out of the narrative of Canada,” says Kerry Benjoe, editor-in-chief at EFN Media (Formally Eagle Feather News) and interim president of the Indigenous Media Association of Canada.
Or, as she speculates, “The narrative has been created without Indigenous input.”
Benjoe was the first and only full-time Indigenous journalist at Postmedia from 2006 until 2019. She estimates she was one of 300 reporters.
“It’s so difficult to break into the mainstream as an Indigenous person,” she says. “It’s an uphill battle, but one that is very necessary to the whole democratic process – to have not only Indigenous voices but people of colour. Everyone needs to be in these newsrooms and sharing this knowledge.”
On the surface, it may seem that Canadian journalism is rapidly changing. National news providers like CBC, Radio-Canada, Toronto Star, and Global News have made significant strides in showcasing marginalized voices and contributing to the uptick of racial diversity in the media.
Unpacking the numbers
But a closer look at a report published by the Canadian Association of Journalists reveals these four organizations are anomalies.
Together, these big news media organizations employ 64 per cent of all visible minority journalists. Sixty-nine percent of all Indigenous reporters work for CBC, Global News, or APTN.
Looking beyond these three big news outlets is a different situation. Sixty-six per cent of newsrooms do not currently employ Black journalists, and 70 per cent do not employ Indigenous or Latin American journalists.
Additionally, 70 per cent of outlets do not have Indigenous or visible minority top leaders. Notably, 80 per cent of all top leaders are white.
Gabriela Perdomo, a journalism professor at Mount Royal University, says that this lack of diversity damages the newsroom and disadvantages the public it’s meant to serve.
“The journalism itself suffers because your stories are probably going to come from a narrow point of view,” she says.“It really makes it seem as though all those communities don’t exist,” said Perdomo in an interview.
Perdomo explains that uniformity in a newsroom can negatively impact its relationship with diverse communities. The result can be—and historically has been—the underrepresentation or misrepresentation of marginalized groups.
“If you lack diversity in a newsroom, then you lack that kind of awareness of different approaches you might have with different communities – better ways of approaching a story, requesting information or interviews or even help from sources,” said Perdomo.
Decolonizing the news
Benjoe notes that she was the first Indigenous colleague and friend for many Postmedia reporters, some of whom had been covering Indigenous stories for years.
“They were great, and they wanted to learn. When you’re in that newsroom and you create those personal relationships, I think that really impacts how the newsroom operates,” said Benjoe.
The longtime reporter was also employed by CBC, an opportunity she credits to federal funding, which allows them to create programs for diverse reporters with unique needs as an amputee. The public broadcaster employs 40 per cent of all Indigenous reporters.
She says she applied to a CBC program specifically for people with disabilities.
“Being a person who has a prosthetic now, and thinking about my physical limitations, I thought being a journalist was behind me. I wouldn’t be where I am had it not been for CBC and that specific program. It’s shown me that I can still continue to be a journalist.
“And now I run EFN media. I’m still active, I report, I’m an editor and I’m helping with the Indigenous Media Association of Canada.”
In her new position, Benjoe can serve the unique needs of her audience.
“It’s hard listening to the news as an Indigenous person. All we hear is all the negativity, all the death, all the destruction, all the chaos,” she says. “And knowing, as an Indigenous person – that’s not me.
“That’s my focus at Eagle Feather News. I have elders, I have kindness, I have ceremony. I have all these beautiful things about my people, and I want to share that.”
Steps forward
This diversity data comes from the CAJ’s fourth annual Canadian Newsroom Diversity Survey, sent to 700 newsrooms. The survey received responses from 207 newsrooms, providing data on 5,806 journalists.
Perdomo says the survey is a hopeful advancement in Canadian journalism, signalling a renewed emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“It’s important for all news organizations to cooperate with the CAJ survey,” she says. “It’s a small thing to do, but it’s shown to be a very powerful tool for us to at least map out and visually see that we should do better.”
She points out that there are still many obstacles to overcome. Funding issues, for example, prevent organizations from adding new journalists to the payroll. A greater difficulty is that many newsrooms are not prepared to create space within their culture for members with different perspectives and approaches to their work.
The emergence of smaller minority-focused outlets has proved essential not only in filling reporting gaps but in providing leadership in the future of journalism.
“Especially when you start seeing success in those smaller, more intrinsically and intentionally inclusive newsrooms, it inevitably starts putting pressure on the bigger players,” says Perdomo.
“This is a very imperfect process. But for the most part, journalists at every rank are listening. And they do want to do things better.”