(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
Lori Lightfoot, J.B. Pritzker
NEW YORK (77WABC) – Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a series of tweets on Wednesday that she would only prioritize interviews with reporters who are people of color, in order to celebrate the two-year anniversary of her inauguration.
“I ran to break up the status quo that was failing so many. That isn’t just in City Hall,” Lightfoot said in the tweet chain. “It’s a shame that in 2021, the City Hall press corps is overwhelmingly White in a city where more than half of the city identifies as Black, Latino, AAPI or Native American.”
I ran to break up the status quo that was failing so many. That isn't just in City Hall.
It's a shame that in 2021, the City Hall press corps is overwhelmingly White in a city where more than half of the city identifies as Black, Latino, AAPI or Native American.
— Archived: Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@mayorlightfoot) May 19, 2021
“Diversity and inclusion is imperative across all institutions including media,” added Lightfoot. “In order to progress we must change.”
A number of journalists and organizations have come out against the tweets. The National Association for Black Journalists said in a statement that they can’t support the decision, but that they “applaud the mayor’s sensitivity to the lack of diversity among the people who cover city government”.
A Statement from the NABJ Board on Mayor Lightfoot’s Message to the Media https://t.co/0hVK4kZA7N pic.twitter.com/SSwIPknqZS
— #NABJ Headquarters ✊🏾🖊️🎙️💻 📷 🎥 📝 🔈 (@NABJ) May 19, 2021
“While the mayor has every right to decide how her press efforts will be handled on her anniversary, we must state again, for the record, that NABJ’s history of advocacy does not support excluding any bona fide journalists from one-on-one interviews with newsmakers, even if it is for one day and in support of activism,” the NABJ said. “We have members from all races and backgrounds and diversity, equity and inclusion must be universal.”
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists also put out a statement:
“While it’s important to address long-standing newsroom inequalities, and it is imperative that leaders in power help hold news organizations accountable, NAHJ does not condone restricting press access based on a journalist’s race/ethnicity. Any action that threatens the cornerstone of our democracy and First Amendment rights is unacceptable. We must take more effective steps to achieve lasting equity in newsrooms and news coverage.”
According to a study from Pew Research Center in 2018, more than three-quarters of newsroom employees are non-Hispanic whites, and more than half of them were male.
