Hello readers of The State Hornet!
My name is Julianna Rodriguez and this is my first audit for this spring semester as the current Diversity, Equity and Inclusion editor for The State Hornet.
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 our team committed to covering these communities.
For example, Arts and Entertainment writer Ismael Martinez Castillo wrote an opinion piece about how the NFL blackballed Colin Kaepernick following his act of taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016.
Updates (Since the previous audit)
Since the previous audit, we have switched to quarterly audits throughout the semester. This allows for us to hold ourselves accountable on a more consistent basis, ensuring we are making the necessary changes to our content in real time.
With this change, it means there will be a decrease in included content as we will be accounting for four weeks worth of content versus eight, meaning numbers may be lower than usual in sections that do not produce as much content throughout the semester.
We have also disbanded our DEI section altogether, focusing instead on having the editor work with each section to curate individualized DEI content.
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 SSWANA.
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 MENA and SWANA community. Our way of increasing this coverage was through our News staffer Micah Yip and A&E staffer Jocelyn Hill covering the first Students for Justice in Palestine and Arab Student Union Banquet, where students from both clubs gathered to perform cultural dances and speak on their experience as Palestinian students on campus.
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: End of fall 2023 audit results
Section Content Analysis
Since we switched over to quarterly audits for this semester, all but one of our sections saw a decrease in content.
Our sports section covers a variety of sports with tight deadlines to ensure our coverage is timely for our audience.
Recaps are 71% of their published articles, and while there has been an increase in stories featuring centered sources, profiles are only 7% of the section’s content.
According to the U.S. News and World report, Sac State is considered 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 quarterly, 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.
