May 16, 2022

Winnipeg
13° C, A few clouds

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • The Star
  • Reader BridgeNEW
  • WFP EventsNEW
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Free Press Community Review
    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • LifestylesNEW
    • All Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photo and Book store
  • More

©2022 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Federal Election
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photo and Book store
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Day Pass
    • Support Faith coverage
    • Support Arts coverage
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
The Free Press

ABOVE THE FOLD

Subscribe
Articles Read Your Balance +tax

A more inclusive newsroom, a wider perspective, a better reflection of our community

By:  Paul Samyn | Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Jul. 12, 2019

Scroll
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later

Opinion

Stacked up in a back corner of our newsroom are some vintage photographs that remind us how far the Free Press has come from our early days.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/7/2019 (1038 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Stacked up in a back corner of our newsroom are some vintage photographs that remind us how far the Free Press has come from our early days.

Much like the newspaper of old, they paint a picture in black and white of who we were and the way things were as the city we have covered since 1872 began to grow into the Winnipeg we know today.

There are moustaches and bowler hats. Pocket watches and waistcoats. And lots of white men — but no women.

A lot has changed in our newsroom since E. Cora Hind found a way to get her foot in the door more than a century ago to become the first female journalist in Western Canada. But we haven’t come far enough. And we need to do much more to better reflect the city and province we serve.

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES</p><p>A portrait of Free Press newsroom staff in 1886.</p>

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES

A portrait of Free Press newsroom staff in 1886.

I could list the reasons why our newsroom isn’t as diverse as it should be. I could point to structural forces that have helped create the imbalance. But rather than make excuses, what we really need to do is make changes to deliver stronger journalism.

"Ultimately, the value of diversity to journalism is not about skin colour, gender, sexual orientation or social class,’’ the Columbia Journalism Review wrote last fall in a report that chronicled decades of bad reflection in U.S. newsrooms. "It’s about the stories people can tell."

A more diverse newsroom won’t happen overnight — but the dawning of one can’t be put off until tomorrow. So we’ve started this process by establishing a baseline to measure our progress.

A staff survey we recently conducted measured everything from gender to religious views, educational levels to sexual orientation and language skills. For the record, 70 per cent of our staff identify as male and 30 per cent as female.

When it comes to Indigenous and visible minorities, only 10 per cent of our newsroom identifies in the non-Caucasian category.

Clearly, there is plenty of room for improvement.

But we have made some changes.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS  

Winnipeg Free Press staff from multiple departments in the pressroom in early 2019.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg Free Press staff from multiple departments in the pressroom in early 2019.

New faces in our newsroom have been predominantly female, including arts reporter Frances Koncan, who adds to the Indigenous perspective on our pages.

Women are also playing a leading role in our newsroom. Two of our three associate editors are women, and they are directly involved in the daily planning of our front page in print and Above the Fold for our digital audience.

We have completed a gender review for all our freelancers and are shifting to a 50-50 gender split.

Members of our newsroom will help develop the next generation of diverse journalists by way of a mentoring program, which we will launch this fall.

Winnipeg Gardener

What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. A monthly email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.

Sign up for Winnipeg Gardener
Sign Up
All of us ‐ reporters, photographers and editors ‐ understand we have a duty to ensure the faces featured on our pages and pixels are more diverse and that the voices we quote are more representative of our community.

All of us — reporters, photographers and editors — understand we have a duty to ensure the faces featured on our pages and pixels are more diverse and that the voices we quote are more representative of our community. That understanding resulted in an almost even split between men and women featured on our front pages in June.

Since newsrooms run on deadlines, we have given ourselves until 2022 to remake who we are and how we reflect the community we serve. In that year, the Free Press will celebrate its 150th anniversary.

When we mark that achievement, the portrait of newsroom staff will be fundamentally different from the stark monochrome one that now sits in the corner.

That one deserves to be buried in the past.

paul.samyn@freepress.mb.ca

Paul Samyn

Paul Samyn
Editor

Paul Samyn has been part of the Free Press newsroom for more than a quarter century, working his way up after starting as a rookie reporter in 1988.

   Read full biography

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later
  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund
  • The Free Press is certified by

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Top