Diversity in the newsroom is essential to covering police brutality and systemic racism, including in the worlds of sports and pop culture. The Ringer has a lot of work to do.

In 2019, 86% of speakers on The Ringer Podcast Network were white. We have zero black editors. We have zero black writers assigned full time to the NBA or NFL beats. Our union is currently bargaining for practices to improve our diversity and inclusion.

We’re currently at a standstill on diversity efforts in our conversations at the bargaining table. We’ve been given an array of excuses as to why management cannot commit to more diverse hiring practices, including technical issues and, most recently, privacy concerns.

A representative staff is crucial for representative coverage. Going forward, we hope management will make firm commitments to increasing the diversity of our staff, particularly our public-facing voices.