Hello State Hornet readers!
My name is Analah Wallace, and I am currently The State Hornet’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editor for the fall 2024 semester. Since fall 2021, The State Hornet has held itself accountable by publishing diversity audits and evaluating the areas where we could use improvement.
My responsibilities as DEI editor include auditing our publication’s coverage of centered sources, finding ways to improve our coverage of underrepresented communities and overseeing each section of our publication to ensure they’re covering these communities accurately, respectfully and consistently.
Note: “Centered sources” are newly defined as story coverage that centers around, highlights, or includes the cultural context of underrepresented communities.
Updates since the previous audit
The definition of ‘centered sources’ has been revised to be more encompassing of what covering diversity truly means. I am also aiming towards making our audits shorter and easier for our audiences to understand.
Since an audit was not posted for the second half of spring 2024, this audit will be cohesive of both last semester and the beginning of this one, covering April 8 to Oct. 5. The addition of women’s rights and the Jewish community have also been factored into the results.
RELATED: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Spring 2024 midway audit results
Overview
Overall, 31% of The State Hornet’s content since April 8, 2024 has been diverse coverage. News produced the highest amount of diverse coverage of all sections, with 48% of its content focused on diverse communities.
Out of the 180 pieces of content The State Hornet produced since April 8, 2024, 50 of those pieces contained centered sources. Here is the breakdown of what makes up those 50 pieces of content.
Note: some pieces count towards coverage of multiple communities, which is why the total is slightly above 50.
In comparison to the last audit, The State Hornet has increased publication of diverse content by 12% since the last spring midway-semester audit. Overall this semester, 28% of our content has covered underrepresented communities, while last semester, it was only 16%. This is likely a result of the new definition of ‘centered sources’ as well as having more content counted into this audit than the previous.
Recommendations and Goals
- The disabled community and Native/Indigenous community should be receiving more coverage.
- Underrepresented communities should be highlighted more in the sports and video sections.
- More pieces should give marginalized communities a chance to weigh in on how Sac State issues affect their community specifically, giving us a better understanding of underrepresented perspectives.
- The publication should start to explore and highlight the Jewish community on campus.
Conclusion
Overall, with an increase in diverse coverage since the last audit, The State Hornet is off to a good start. Following this audit, future audits will be cohesive of stories published this semester only.
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.
