AAJA, NLGJA joint project to address coverage of minorities and LGBT communities in Nebraska

Minority populations can be misrepresented through the majority perspective.

“Whenever there is a politician standing on the steps saying he or she is in favor of same-sex marriage,” said Jen Christensen, president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), “often it is because they say they know somebody.”

However, demographic shifts in the Midwest threaten to undermine journalism’s devotion to fair and accurate representation.

In response, AAJA and NLGJA have jointly launched a project, “Diverse and Inclusive: News of the Heartland,” to address the lack of news coverage of minorities and LGBT communities in Nebraska.

 The executive directors of AAJA and NLGJA, Kathy Chow and Michael Tune, began collaborating about a year ago, leading to a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation.

In order to demonstrate a need, representatives from AAJA and NLGJA studied Nebraska’s news coverage during November 2012 and met with editors at University of Nebraska, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World-Herald. The resulting analysis found “little to no coverage” in certain categories ranging from access to health care to domestic violence in LGBT communities.

While Nebraska is not traditionally known as diverse, its communities have been changing rapidly. Almost 5,500 international refugees have resettled in Lincoln since the 1980s, according to the Asian Community Center.

The LGBT community has also grown.  The Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reports an increase in same-sex couples living in Nebraska between 2000 and 2005, from 2,332 to 3,986.

But these numbers are only part of the story.

“It is difficult to establish an exact percentage of population growth for the LGBT community, but the community has been increasingly more visible over the years with the increase of LGBT bars, bookstores, and groups listed online,” Christensen said.

AAJA and NLGJA are working to establish more partnerships by year’s end. Ideas include embedding professional and student reporters in newsrooms to concentrate on specific issues in the community, as well as hiring freelancers to move to Nebraska to provide coverage during the project’s duration.

“Anytime you have visibility,” Christensen said, “it is is an opportunity for people to get to know us.”