AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity Interview with Reginald Stuart

  • Introduction
  • Stuart talks about how he got into journalism by owning his own neighborhood newspaper as a kid.
  • Stuart talks about getting his first job right out of college at the local newspaper.
  • Stuart discusses what prompted him to start a paper as a kid and his desire to be the first to know things and then to spread the information.
  • Stuart explains what he put in his childhood paper and the following he had.
  • Stuart gives a few examples of stories that he would include.
  • Stuart explains the name of his paper, "The Neighborhood Times".
  • Stuart talks about who would write the stories and how he would put the paper together including how he gained National readership.
  • Stuart reflects on his innate desire to learn information.
  • Stuart talks about the media he and his family consumed as a kid and the environment of constantly being informed. (short lighting issue)
  • Stuart explains what he learned during the time he was putting together his paper.
  • Stuart talks about the difficulties of running a newspaper without the sufficient number of people to cover everything and how coverage is then determined by the diversity of the staff and what they determine to be important.
  • Stuart says he was too young to recognize those issues when he started his own paper, but learned those things along the way.
  • Stuart gives an example of this principle by talking about the sports sections and their coverage of the different universities in the area.
  • Stuart talks about one of the moments when he realized that there was a disparity in coverage of diversity issues and the need to provide more information in order to get more coverage.
  • Stuart reflects on how these same issues existed when he was working at "The New York Times".
  • Stuart reemphasizes the effort needed to reach everyone in the audience.
  • Stuart reflects back on his time at "The Tennessean".
  • Stuart talks about the progressive nature of "The Tennessean".
  • Stuart emphasizes the importance of leadership in journalism and media.
  • Stuart discusses the hiring practices of "The Banner" and "The Tennessean".
  • Stuart talks about the breadth of coverage he was asked to provide while at "The Tennessean" and the teachable moment he received about news writing.
  • Stuart recounts his second teachable moment about covering a beat and his creation of his own beat in aviation and transportation.
  • Stuart talks about the diversity he saw in the newsroom and as a journalist.
  • Stuart reflects on his time at "The New York Times" and the level of diversity found there.
  • Stuart discusses law suits brought against "The New York Times" for issues of diversity.
  • Stuart talks about his perceptions of diversity in Detroit.
  • Stuart talks about his efforts to ensure that the news covered was inclusive, and not specifically to make sure that everything was covered.
  • Stuart gives an example of teachers associations in the South.
  • Stuart describes how he got his start in journalism education through serving as a mentor in the Summer Program for Minorities in Journalism.
  • Stuart talks about what he sees as the job of a journalist.
  • Stuart shares his philosophy of being inclusive and looking for the facts.
  • Stuart recalls some of the types of questions he would get from those he mentored during the Summer Program for Minorities in Journalism and how he would respond.
  • Stuart shares his final thoughts on teaching journalism and the knowledge gap that can be overcome with a desire to learn.
  • Stuart tells an anecdote of a graduate student that exemplified a lack of a desire to learn.
  • Stuart expresses a need that journalists have to be well rounded with a broad base of experience so they can cover a story in its entirety.
  • Stuart shares his thoughts on the current state of the news industry's approach to issues of diversity.
  • Stuart gives recommendations of what media owners can do to address diversity issues.
  • Stuart talks about the role of audiences in achieving diversity in media.