For the past year, CPR News has been tracking the demographics of the people we’ve included in our news coverage. Officials, business leaders, consumers, neighbors and spokespeople alike have been asked how they identify based on race/ethnicity, age, gender and where they live.
This ongoing effort helps further our public service mission: “To deliver meaningful news, music and cultural experiences to everyone in Colorado using the power of the human voice in all its forms.”
When we first audited our content in February of 2020 we found — like many news organizations — that our sources were mostly white and male. Though we were slightly better than other news organizations that had already begun tracking sources, ours stood at 53 percent male and 76 percent white.
For comparison, Colorado in the 2020 census was 70.7 percent white and 50.4 percent male. That initial audit showed our sources were 10.1 percent Hispanic, 9 percent Black, 2 percent Asian and 2.6 percent mixed race. The census lists Colorado as 21.9 percent Hispanic, 4.1 percent Black, 3.7 percent Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.3 percent Indigenous or Alaska Native and 12.3 percent mixed race. Note: CPR News breaks down population by age on a more granular level compared to available census data.
This data collection is just a starting point. It’s a part of an organization-wide commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our stories on air and online. With the data, we can develop coverage that better serves the array of communities in the state.
Our goal is to not only better reflect the demographics of the people in the state, but to help our listeners and readers feel seen and included no matter their population size. We will compare our source data with state metrics with the goal that over the next three years our sourcing profile will be more reflective of the characteristics of the state of Colorado, and also use it to be more intentional in our community outreach efforts. Our progress will be posted every year at the same time and show changes year over year.
We know that there are many communities that have been left out of news coverage – a range of ethnicities and culture identities, rural Coloradans, various socioeconomic statuses and others. We strive to elevate more of those voices so that our coverage reflects a more complete picture of Colorado. Our journalists will monitor the diversity of the people we are including in our coverage. Our sources — the people our journalists include in their news stories — help us by voluntarily answering a few demographic questions, and the newsroom then uses that data to ensure that we are telling stories that reflect people from all backgrounds.
Here are the demographics of our news sources for 2023, as compared with state demographics:
Note: CPR News breaks down population by age on a more granular level compared to available census data.
