SABEW making diversity push in 2012

The Society of American Business Editors and Writers is renewing a push to broaden its diversity efforts in 2012 ahead of its 50th anniversary in Washington and the Unity conference in Las Vegas in August.

The business journalism organization held a committee meeting last week to go over initiatives that include recruiting minority candidates to join SABEW, ensuring that SABEW’s board reflects the diversity of our readership and newsrooms, and raising funds for its Five for 50 campaign for five students of color to attend SABEW conferences for the next five years, starting with its 50th anniversary conference in Washington next year.

The organization also will work with other media companies and other associations to help raise business journalism scholarships exclusively for students and young journalists. SABEW is asking major media companies such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and newspapers to respond to these challenges.

“There’s a yawning gap between many companies’ diversity goals, and the reality you see in most newsrooms,” said Walden Siew, a New York-based editor for Reuters and chair of SABEW’s diversity committee. “SABEW too must do a better job to promote a board and membership that reflects our audience and industry.”

Pamela Yip, a personal finance columnist and former chair and current member of SABEW’s diversity committee, also said her newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, offers paid internships every summer. The paper has already picked this summer’s business news intern, but she encouraged interested students to contact her for future positions.