.png)
We’ll keep this short and sweet. USA Today is partnered with Everytown’s Trace Media. Articles are collaborated on with journalists from both outlets sending out big stories on USA Today and the Trace. We did some digging and found that both have more pressing issues with their orgs, though.
It’s no secret (thanks to us) that Everytown had had some ongoing issues in management according to minority employees. Click the links for more, but here’s a recent review (pictured):
Click here to read the full review (this one’s new to us) as there’s more:
Now, as you see, this employee (and the many more listed in our above articles) brings to light racial inequalities at Everytown. We decided to look into USA Today’s parent company (Gannett) and they have some pretty common ground with Everytown on this front:
https://newsguild.org/study-shows-gannett-underpays-women-and-journalists-of-color-as-much-as-27000/
A first-of-its-kind pay equity study of 14 Gannett newsrooms by NewsGuild members sheds light on stark pay disparities for women and journalists of color and a workforce whiter than the communities they cover.
Key findings:
Women who worked at least 30 years at newspapers currently owned by Gannett earned $27,026 less, or 63% the annual median salary of male peers.
Women of color earned $15,726 less, or 73% of white men’s median salary.
Women earned $9,845 less, or 83% of men’s median salary.
Women 50-60 years old earned $6,642 less, or 90% the median salary of men in the same age range. The gap grew to $10,677 when including part-timers.
Journalists of color earned $5,246 less, or 90% of the white median salary.
Experienced female journalists and journalists of color were rare. Men outnumbered women age 30 and above, or with at least 10 years at the company, by about 2 to 1. White journalists outnumbered journalists of color age 40 and above, or with at least 10 years of service, by more than 4 to 1.
Thirteen of 14 newsrooms were whiter than the communities they covered. Only the Knoxville News Sentinel was more diverse than its county.
The Arizona Republic was the most diverse newsroom but had the largest gender and racial pay gaps. Women made nearly $30,000 less in median wages than men. People of color earned about $25,000 less in median wages than white employees.
Unionizing improves pay equity. Newsrooms with union contracts had a gender pay gap that was $6,846 smaller and a racial pay gap that was $5,443 smaller than newsrooms currently negotiating first contracts.
Members of the NewsGuild, an international union of journalists, have led the way in calling for fair pay in the media industry.
But this is the first time, we believe, a pay equity study has been released for multiple units across a newspaper chain. By combining data, small newsrooms that would not have been able to conduct pay studies on their own were able to participate.
Gannett pledges diversity, but doesn’t back it up with pay
Gannett pledged in 2020 to hire and promote more women and employees of color to reflect national and local demographics in the workforce.
In 2021, a company report found Gannett’s executive team was 84% white and 73% male, while its newsrooms were 58% male and 79% white. (Similarly, our study of 14 newsrooms found 59% of employees were male and 78% were white.)
Nothing like a bunch of “white supremacists” at Everytown and Gannett telling all us little people what to think and believe in terms of guns, eh? Further, they say things publicly, but their actions within their own organizations speak differently.
Comments