From Principles to Practices: Towards a Framework for a Diversity Dashboard for News Organizations

Diversity in news media is increasingly recognized as a guiding principle in tools, processes and initiatives, as it can help reflect the complexities of a pluralistic society. Yet, while diversity is widely accepted as a value, the actual implementation within many news organizations reveals a ‘principles to practices gap’. Through a case study of focus groups and a survey with DPG Media, a Belgian Dutch media company, we evaluate how different stakeholders like editors, leadership teams or data scientists interpret and prioritize diversity, within their respective roles. Results highlight some aspects on what to consider when conceptualizing diversity, as well as what could be prioritized in the development of a dashboard reporting on the diversity of created and distributed content. By mapping these interpretations and prioritizations in principle and in practice, this study contributes to the field by proposing a practical framework to potentially operationalize diversity with both practical and ethical considerations across an organization