TORONTO — Corus Entertainment today provided further information on its diversity and inclusion review launched in response to calls from Black journalists and other journalists of colour to address issues of systemic racism within the organization and its Global News division in particular.
In June, the Canadian Association of Black Journalists published an open letter to Corus Entertainment president and CEO Doug Murphy in which the association called on Corus to introduce a policy requiring interviews for newsroom, managerial and leadership roles include Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) candidates, as well as regular collection and public release of demographic data regarding recruitment specifically within the news division.
The CABJ also called for the creation of a dedicated support system for current and potential future Black employees at Corus, which would include a mentorship program, recruiting program and a training program to help promote Black employees into leadership positions. In addition, the CABJ also asked Corus to require everyone in a leadership position undergo regular anti-Black and anti-oppression training.
On June 24, Murphy responded to the CABJ and announced Corus had contracted diversity consultancy DiversiPro to conduct “an external independent and thorough review of the Corus organization.”
The week prior to that, according to Murphy, Corus had announced it would implement the following:
- More transparent reporting of Indigenous and racialized groups in Corus’ teams, both at the frontline and management levels
- Targeted recruitment to increase the representation of Indigenous and racialized groups across the organization
- Specific initiatives aimed at removing systemic barriers to improve retention and promotion opportunities
- A renewed commitment to consultation with Indigenous and racialized communities regarding our news coverage
- Continued support for targeted scholarships, mentorships and sponsorships for aspiring media professionals
Corus says on its website DiversiPro’s recommendations from its review will be presented in a final report to Corus in September, and the broadcaster plans to integrate the recommendations into its current diversity and inclusion multi-year plan.
After Corus had hired DiversiPro and begun its organizational review, more than 140 of Corus’ own employees signed another open letter to Corus management and the Global News leadership team on July 2. The employees included Global News hosts, producers, reporters, editors and camera operators.
In their letter, the Global News employees said they were heartened by the steps taken by Corus to engage DiversiPro to review the systemic problems in the organization.
“However, we need more than words on the page and we cannot simply wait until DiversiPro has finished its work to enact meaningful change,” reads the employees’ letter.
The Global News employees are calling for more immediate action on several fronts, including:
- Dedicating resources to ensure in-depth and more balanced stories concerning race and systemic inequality, including setting aside a budget for in-house projects and committing to diversifying the newsroom at all levels, including management.
- Tracking sources used as expert voices by gender, race and frequency of use in Global News stories for a period of six months, with regular source audits to follow.
- Committing to the timely, public release of the full, unredacted anti-racism report being prepared by DiversiPro.
- Mandatory anti-Black racism, anti-oppression and anti-racism training for all Global News and Corus employees, to take place before September 2020.
- Special training/seminar series for all editorial employees as it relates to covering predominantly BIPOC communities, to take place before September 2020.
- Whistleblower protections for Corus employees who have already reported or may in the future report publicly or privately instances of racism and oppression within the Global News workplace.
In its most recent update regarding its diversity and inclusion review, Corus posted today that president and CEO Doug Murphy is joining 200 other Canadian business leaders and their companies in signing the BlackNorth Initiative CEO pledge, expressing their commitment to remove systemic barriers negatively affecting the lives of Black Canadians.
Corus says it will continue to provide updates during its organizational review directly to its employees, as well as publicly on Twitter and via its website.
