Decoded is a regular column in which we dive deeper into a specific ethics code or guideline from our online library of resources. Read the full Colorado Sun Committment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at ethicsandjournalism.org/resources.
Even as the federal government, major universities, and some U.S. businesses roll back policies promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, news outlets like The Colorado Sun are still committed.
The journalists who left The Denver Post to start The Colorado Sun in 2018 were unequivocal about their mission: to tell stories about all of the people in their ethnically, geographically, and economically diverse state.
“We are of the highest and best use when we, in our coverage and, hopefully, someday, in our staff, look more like the community that we cover,” said Sun editor Dana Coffield. “The way that we can help advance equity in our communities is to make sure everybody is included in our coverage.”
Coffield and her team remain committed to that proposition, even as major U.S. businesses and universities – under an explicit threat from President Donald Trump’s Justice Department – erase anti-discrimination initiatives and scrub websites of all mention of diversity. The government’s rationale for the rollbacks, as outlined in an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office: Promoting diversity and inclusion is an “illegal and immoral” form of discrimination
The Sun’s website, by contrast, celebrates the nonprofit’s continuing efforts “to contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado” by writing about “diverse voices and experiences, especially those from outside dominant cultural perspectives.”
It’s important to point out that the Sun is not alone among newsrooms in standing by its diversity policies. Many major news organizations – including right-leaning outlets and at least one news outlet that receives federal funding – continue to say publicly that good journalism requires coverage of a wide range of experiences and viewpoints. At many news companies and nonprofits (though not all), diversity is still regarded as an aspirational principle, not a dirty word.
The Sun’s diversity goals are nuanced, Coffield said. “We don’t want to marginalize anybody,” she said. “We don’t want to cover somebody just because of the color of their skin.” Diversity in news coverage, as the Sun’s website emphasizes, should focus on breaking down stereotypes rather than perpetuating bigotry.
But if state policies affect particular communities, that’s a story, she said. During the pandemic, Coffield explained by way of example, Colorado struggled with providing vaccinations for its Hispanic communities. The Sun’s approach, she said, was to cover “culturally-informed ways that different health departments were trying to reach out to the Latinx community.”
Or when federal immigration agents conducted a raid last month at an apartment complex in Aurora, the Sun sought out residents to describe their experiences during the heavily militarized operation.
“That was our job – to tell the truth about the people who are being impacted,” Coffield said.
Diversity can also be a matter of geography. A story about gun control proposals, for instance, should reflect the different perspectives of Denver residents and Coloradans in other parts of the state, Coffield said.
“If you live in downtown Denver, your experience with a gun is much different than it is out in rural parts of Colorado. We have to make sure those opinions are included so that we understand,” Coffield said. “We can’t have everything be informed by the metro center.”
Coffield said she occasionally wonders if newsrooms like hers will face blowback or even government retribution for remaining committed to values challenged by the Trump administration.
“Maybe in the pit of my stomach I feel anxious about that stuff,” she said. “But I also feel like I’m surrounded by a lot of people who have steel spines.”