Newsroom Diversity Management and Inclusive Journalism Practice in Nigeria

This study examines diversity management practices and their relationship to inclusive journalism outputs in Nigerian newsrooms, assessing how editorial teams manage ethnic, regional, religious, and gender diversity to produce journalism that reflects the full diversity of the Nigerian public. Nigeria's complex ethnic and religious landscape places unique demands on newsrooms to manage diversity as both an internal human resource challenge and an external content quality imperative. This study uses a qualitative methodology, conducting interviews with 26 editors, human resource managers, and diversity practitioners across 10 newsrooms in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, and Port Harcourt spanning print, broadcast, and digital media. Newsroom composition audits and content diversity assessment supplement the interviews. Findings reveal that formal diversity management policies exist in only 28 percent of sampled newsrooms, with diversity managed informally through editorial instinct and individual commitment in most organisations. Ethnic and regional diversity in newsroom staffing is generally low outside of media organisations headquartered outside Lagos. Religious diversity is rarely tracked or managed formally. Gender diversity has improved in front-facing roles but remains low in senior editorial leadership. Newsrooms with more diverse editorial teams produce measurably more geographically diverse source selection and less Lagos-centric story framing. The study concludes that diversity management in Nigerian newsrooms requires institutionalisation through explicit policy and targets. It recommends a Nigerian Media Diversity Charter with voluntary signatory commitments and annual diversity reporting obligations.

Keywords: newsroom diversity, inclusive journalism, Nigeria, media management, diversity policy.