ProPublica is committed to increasing the diversity of our workplace as well as in the journalism community more broadly. We do our best to post an update on our diversity efforts every year. Here are our posts from 2017 and 2015. We believe that it is crucial to fill our newsroom with people from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives, and are committed to recruiting and retaining people from communities that have long been underrepresented, not only in journalism but particularly in investigative journalism. That includes African Americans, Latinos, other people of color, women, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.
As part of our commitment to diversity, starting this year we intend to formalize a practice we have already followed on most hires. We will interview at least one person of color for every posted job in line with the practice pioneered by the NFL and known as the “Rooney Rule.” Many other entities have adopted this approach to increasing their diversity.
There may be very rare occasions when a job is filled without a posting. In such cases, we will explain to the ProPublica staff why we did not advertise the position and, if relevant, why we did not interview a person of color.
Our Ongoing Efforts
We’ve expanded many of the programs and scholarships we started in 2015. Specifically:
The Emerging Reporters Program, which offers grants to college students of color who are interested in doing great journalism, is in its third year. Learn more about these talented journalists.
The Diversity Scholarship program. For the third year in a row we’ll be awarding scholarships to student journalists of color to attend journalism conferences. This year we’ve increased the number of scholarships from 12 to 20 and increased the amount of each scholarship from $500 to $700. We are also excited to be working with the Association of LGBTQ Journalists for the first time. In total, we’ll be awarding 20 scholarships of $700 each for students to attend the conferences of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, National Association of Black Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association, the Native American Journalists Association and the Association of LGBTQ Journalists. You can read more about (and apply for!) these scholarships here.
The ONA Diversity Mentorship breakfast. For the fourth year in a row, we’ll be pairing journalists of color with managing editors, executive editors and other top journalists at our ONA Diversity Mentorship Breakfast. Be on the lookout for when our applications for this program open later this summer.
This year, we’re also researching and evaluating multiple new programs to help us increase diversity both inside and outside our newsroom. Stay tuned for more announcements later in 2018.
A Breakdown of Our Staff
Part of our commitment to diversity means being transparent about our own numbers. Here they are:
Race & Ethnicity - All of ProPublica (includes business side and fellows)
White
Hispanic/Latino
Asian
Black
Two+ Races
Other
Race & Ethnicity - Newsroom (not including fellows)
White
Hispanic/Latino
Asian
Black
Two+ Races
Other
Gender - All of ProPublica
Female
Male
Transgender
Gender - Newsroom (not including fellows)
Female
Male
Transgender
Charts may not add up exactly to 100 percent due to rounding.
How You Can Get In Touch If You’re Interested in a Job
Here is our jobs page, where we post new full-time positions, and here’s our fellowships page. You can also sign up to be notified when we have a job or fellowship available on the bottom of either page. You can also email us — we’re eager to hear from candidates at any time.
