Why the PR industry lacks diversity – and why it’s important

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Promoting diversity within the public relations industry has been a goal for decades. Committees and task forces were formed to tackle the issue and figure out workable solutions to promoting diversity and the hiring of more diverse job candidates.

Yet, though progress has been made, especially in regards to black PR practitioners, there is still much to be done.

Many PR practitioners cite the lack of education among minority ethnic groups about public relations as a legitimate career path as one of the reasons that the industry is mostly white and middle class. Not only that, but if a minority student is interested in a career in public relations or communications, it’s likely that their research reflects a mostly white field.

Another way to promote diversity in the communications field is to promote retention among minority candidates. If PR and advertising agencies only focus on hiring diverse candidates but completely ignore retaining those candidates and even promoting them to top positions, then our levels of diversity will continue to be stagnant.

In light of this, the real work should begin in college and even in high school. If minority students are not only encouraged to pursue fields of study that they are interested in, but fields of study in the communications industry, then we may begin to see even more progress that mirrors the true diversity in the United States population.

According to the Pew Research Center, by 2055 the United States will not have any single racial or ethnic majority and that now “a near-record 14% of the country’s population is foreign born compared with just 5% in 1965.” Researchers even found that “over the next five decades, the majority of U.S. population growth is projected to be linked to new Asian and Hispanic immigration.”

Because of the growing diversity within our country, it’s important that children and people in general see people like them in the media. This often starts with the people behind the scenes who create content – people tend to create stories and media about what they know. If the people controlling what stories we see – whether that be journalists, advertisers, PR practitioners or TV execs – are mostly white, then we’ll see stories that are mostly white.

It’s important to be exposed to different people and cultures to better understand the world around you. Shouldn’t diversity be a no-brainer?

#Diversity #Inclusion #PewResearch