Hello readers of The State Hornet!
My name is Jasmine Ascencio and this is my last audit as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion editor for The State Hornet, in collaboration with incoming editor Julianna Rodriguez.
Since fall 2021, The State Hornet has published the diversity audit midway and end-of-semester to hold itself accountable for goals and suggestions made in previous audits.
As the DEI editor, part of my responsibility includes auditing The State Hornet’s coverage of centered sources, finding ways to improve our coverage of underrepresented communities and leading a team of staffers committed to covering these communities.
For example, DEI writer Christa Ison’s opinion story shares her experience as a disabled woman and the lack of marriage equality for the disabled community.
Updates since the previous audit
We published our first DEI style guide. This is a large step forward in our efforts to diversify our content and ensure that we are minimizing harm in our coverage of underrepresented communities.
As mentioned in the previous audit, we decided to adjust our use of the terms Hispanic, Latino/a/x/e and Chicano/a/x/e in our coverage according to the preferences of our sources. We added an editor’s note to stories that cover those from the Latino/Hispanic community to add context to our use of terms within the article.
To add more context to our decision, we published an editorial co-written by Spanish editor, Nancy Rodriguez Bonilla and Ascencio. This features the historical context of the terms, the demographics of Sac State and input from Manuel Barajas, Sac State professor of sociology and interim director of the Center on Race, Immigration and Social Justice.
As our coverage of the Arab, Middle Eastern, North African and Southwest Asian communities has increased, we added them to our audit under Arab, MENA and SWANA.
Audit Results
Compared to the previous audit, there has been an increase of centered sources in our coverage.
The previous audit recommended that we increase our coverage of our Asian and Pacific Islander American community. Our way of increasing this coverage was through DEI staffer, Madison Duong creating a landing page dedicated to Hmong New Year sharing traditions, beliefs and other cultural aspects of Hmong culture.
As the previous audit recommended, we still need to increase our coverage of people with disabilities, Native and Indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities. Along with an increase in coverage of the Black community.
RELATED: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Fall midway 2023 audit results
Section Content Analysis
Besides podcasts, there was a decrease in our content across the board.
Our sports section covers a variety of sports with tight deadlines to ensure our coverage is timely for our audience.
Recaps are 72% of their published articles. While there has been an increase in profiles of centered sources, profiles are only 8% of the section’s content.
According to the U.S. News and World report, Sac State is considered to be the fourth most diverse university in the West. The State Hornet is committed to producing diverse content to reflect its audience. In giving a platform to underrepresented communities, we aim to promote cultural awareness, understanding and inclusivity.
By performing this audit periodically, The State Hornet can hold itself accountable to the goals set by the previous audit. Our aim with these audits is to maintain and continue to build trust with our audience and be transparent.
