Daily Trojan Staff Diversity Report shows decreased representation
The report had an 84.6% response rate — a 27.6% increase from Fall 2023.
By ANTONIO WU
Since Fall 2020, the Daily Trojan staff have completed a semesterly internal survey to evaluate the demographics, identities and experiences of the student journalists dedicated to representing the University. The survey results allow us to better recognize how our staff demographics and experiences impact equity and inclusion in our workplace and how they translate into our coverage of the USC student body and surrounding community.
Methodology
Staff were given multiple weeks to complete a brief survey. It was distributed in early April, late into the semester, so that those who left early on or were largely uninvolved — and thus did not accurately represent our staff — would not be included in our rosters. The survey asked about a variety of demographic information, including race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality/romantic attraction, and record of disability, in addition to class standing, financial aid and occupational status. Most questions had a “prefer not to state” option should respondents wish not to share.
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In previous semesters, the DEI survey has included a staff retention section to measure whether staff members intend to return in future semesters based on their involvement in the paper and experiences working with editors. We continue to track these results across semesters in order to inform our approach to staff development and newsroom culture.
This semester, the DEI Committee also added a DEI-specific section, which assessed the extent to which staff members feel the Daily Trojan is diverse, equitable and inclusive in its coverage. A series of questions asked respondents to evaluate their experiences and observations of newsroom culture, as well as their comfort with internal discrimination and bias reporting.
In addition to the staff retention question, we intend for the responses to inform future leadership of the paper’s internal strengths and weaknesses and how the staff experience can be improved specific to DEI. Both qualitative and quantitative questions were administered to provide future leadership with a variety of data and to observe trends over time.
Upon the advice of the DEI Committee, the demographic questions were updated to use more inclusive terminology and provide staff with a wider range of choices to represent their identity. For example, an aromantic category was added this semester. Additionally, the heterosexual, bisexual and pansexual categories were updated to heterosexual/heteroromantic, bisexual/biromantic and pansexual/panromantic in order to enable asexual individuals to select their romantic attraction if they choose.
The Daily Trojan received an 84.6% response rate, with 198 responses out of a staff of 234. Our staff decreased from 260 last semester. All six members of the managing team — which consists of the editor-in-chief, managing editor, digital managing editor and three associate managing editors — responded to the survey. All 30 members of masthead, which includes all section editors, directors and managing editors, responded to the survey. Of the paper’s 17 sections, the News, Opinion, Soapbox, Video, Social and DEI Committee sections had 100% response rates.
The sample size for the Fall 2023 DEI report was smaller by 51 staffers, and the response rate was 57%. As a result, the following comparative analysis may not fully represent trends in our staff demographic. Additionally, since many of the demographic questions allowed respondents to select multiple options, the percentages reported may add up to greater than 100%.
Analysis
Race and ethnicity
Twenty-nine staffers were multiracial or identified with multiple ethnicities. They are represented in the following data points for each racial/ethnic category.
There have been multiple slight decreases in the racial and ethnic diversity of our staff from Fall 2023. Respondents were able to select several racial/ethnic categories to more fully represent their identities.
Significant decreases were observed in East Asian and Middle Eastern or North African staffers, constituting 25.3% and 4% of responses, which were down by 5.7 and 3 percentage points, respectively.
Slight decreases were observed in Black and white staffers, constituting, respectively, 8.6% and 37.9% of responses, which were down by 1.4 and 1.1 percentage points.
A slight increase was observed in Southeast Asian staff, who made up 1.6% more of responses than in Fall 2023. Meanwhile, the proportion of Latine, Native/Alaska Native/Indigenous, Pacific Islander and South Asian staffers remained consistent with previous semesters.
On masthead, 13 of the 30, or 43.3%, of editors and directors identify as white, four of whom also identify as another race or ethnicity. Half of the managing editors identify as white, one of whom also identifies as Latine/Hispanic.
Gender identity
The staff largely consist of cisgender individuals, who account for 91.9% of the staff, a slight decrease from 93% last semester. The breakdown of cis men and women changed substantially from last semester, with the proportion of cis men decreasing from 36.7% to 29.3% and the proportion of cis women increasing from 56.5% to 62.6%. Trans men, trans women and agender, genderfluid, gender nonconforming and nonbinary individuals make up 5.6% of staff, compared to 5.4% last semester.
Cis women and cis men make up 60% and 33.3% of masthead, respectively, including all managing editors. Almost 7% of masthead do not identify as cisgender, a slight increase from 5% last semester.
Sexuality and romantic attraction
Heterosexual/heteroromantic staff still represent the majority at 60.6%. This percentage is down from 62.6% last semester and continues a downward trend from previous semesters.
Queer representation jumped substantially from 8.8% to 13.1%. Bisexual representation also increased from 10.9% to 14.1%. Staff who identified as gay increased slightly from 4.8% to 5.6%, while staff who identified as lesbian decreased slightly from 4.8% to 4.5%. The proportion of asexual, pansexual/panromantic and questioning individuals remained consistent with previous semesters.
Notably, a much higher proportion of masthead and managing identify as queer compared to staff, constituting 43.3% of masthead and half of managing. Forty percent of masthead identify as heterosexual/heteroromantic, while 13.3% identify as bisexual/biromantic, 6.7% as lesbian and 3.3% as asexual.
Disability
At 17.7%, a slight increase was observed in the number of staff who reported having a disability or a record of one, up from 16% last semester. On both masthead and managing, 16.7% reported having a disability or a record of one.
Class standing
Underclassmen continue to compose the majority of staff. Freshmen represent 37.4% of staff, a large increase from 26% last semester. The sophomore cohort decreased slightly from 29% to 26.3%. Junior representation on staff decreased from 28% to 20.2%, but made up slightly over half of masthead. The proportion of seniors on staff dropped from 14% to 13.1%. Graduate students made up 3% of responses, a slight decrease from 5% in Fall 2023.
Semesters at Daily Trojan
Staffers in their first or second semester working at the Daily Trojan make up 63.6% of all staff. Only 13.1% of staff had been at the Daily Trojan for five or more semesters, including three staffers who have been at the paper for eight or more semesters including Spring 2024. Over half of masthead and all of managing are on their fourth semester or beyond at the Daily Trojan.
Student status
Traditional University applicants made up 58.6% of staff, a slight increase from 54%, while transfer students made up 9.6%, a slight decrease from 13%. Similar to last semester, 18.7% of staff are first-generation students, 12.6% are low-income and 10.6% are international students. Spring admits make up 18.7% of staff, an increase from 12%.
University scholarship recipients make up 41.4% of staff, and 30.3% of staff are receiving need-based financial aid, consistent with Fall 2023. Staff receiving both a scholarship and need-based financial aid are represented in this data.
On masthead, 46.7% are traditional applicants, 6.7% are transfer students and 20.0% are spring admits. First-generation, low-income and international students compose 23.3%, 16.7% and 10% of staff, respectively. University scholarship recipients make up 56.7% of masthead, and 26.7% of masthead are receiving need-based financial aid.
Financial aid and outside jobs
Similar to last semester, the majority of staff receive some financial aid from the University, including merit-based scholarships and need-based aid, while 32.8% receive no financial aid. This semester, 58.6% of staff reported working a job outside of the Daily Trojan, an increase from 50% in Fall 2023. On both masthead and managing, 66.7% receive financial aid and 66.7% work a job outside of the Daily Trojan.
Semester recap, and moving forward
This semester, our staff made a renewed commitment to push forward diversity, equity and inclusion measures in both our reporting and internal operations. A revitalized and dedicated DEI Committee, which met weekly throughout the semester to work on various projects, has been key to this effort.
The DEI Committee was composed of staff from various sections of the newspaper, including News, Opinion, Arts & Entertainment, Art & Design, Copy and Photo. We reviewed and updated portions of the Daily Trojan’s style guide, including several new entries on terminology surrounding gender, sexuality, the LGBTQIA+ community, homelessness, disability and accessibility. The updated style guide will be finalized and accessible online over the summer before we resume our coverage for Fall 2024.
Members of masthead and the DEI Committee also identified a need to create a more formal and accessible process for staff to report internal bias and discrimination, as well as stronger accountability mechanisms to ensure issues are dealt with promptly, appropriately and equitably. An expanded Code of Ethics — including new enforcement procedures — along with an updated incident reporting form and a required agreement for members of masthead and managing will be implemented for next semester. The current Code of Ethics will be updated online accordingly over the summer.
The feedback we received from the staff retention and DEI sections of the DEI survey are crucial for next semester’s editor-in-chief, managing editors, section editors and internal directors to build upon as we continue to improve the culture of our newsroom and experience of our diverse staff, which include writers, photographers, artists and more.
Moving forward, the next DEI Director can carry on the work done this semester to foster a more inclusive and equitable newsroom by ensuring the continuation of a robust DEI Committee. Potential areas for growth include increasing representation of each section in the committee and implementing regular communication between the DEI Committee and editors. The committee must also continue initiating and maintaining relationships between the Daily Trojan and organizations representing underrepresented groups in our student body.
Lastly, DEI must be integrated throughout the newspaper as a collaborative effort. Members of managing, masthead and staff must all continue to be mindful of — and take action toward — equity and inclusion.
