The Toronto Star needs to do more to include diversity in its newspaper, public editor Kathy English wrote earlier this month.
To help achieve this goal, staff must constantly ask this question, English wrote: “Does this reflect Toronto in all its diversity?”
By improving the paper’s diversity, the Star will hopefully improve “the overall accuracy and fairness of the Star‘s coverage.”
English wrote that she and the Star‘s managing editor Jane Davenport have begun actively monitoring the newspaper’s diversity. “We have met with all newsroom managers to set goals and determine targets and measures with a primary goal of tracking our coverage on an ongoing basis,” English wrote.
Davenport also sent a memo to staff calling for the paper to work on “dramatically improving representation of Toronto’s ethnic diversity in our coverage in all areas, on all platforms,” English wrote. The memo stated:
“Our goal is for our photos, videos and stories to reflect at every possible opportunity the makeup of the city in which we live. We are doing this because it’s the right thing to do.”
English did toot the paper’s own horn, claiming that “Undoubtedly, the Star now does a better job of reflecting the diversity of its community than most any other newspaper in Canada and has for some 25 years.”
The Star says on its website it has a weekday readership of more than 1 million.