The Inquirer’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I)
The Philadelphia Inquirer is committed to becoming a diverse, inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist organization by evolving how it operates through its culture, coverage of the news, and service to the community. To accomplish this, The Inquirer is approaching this critical work in a manner that is sustainable through investments in its journalism, workplace culture and talent, and community relations.
Culture
We are building an inclusive culture, grounded in anti-racism and equity, that fosters a sense of belonging for all at The Inquirer. At every level of the organization, we seek equitable representation of people from marginalized and under-resourced communities.
Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Coverage
We are working to ensure equity is centered in how The Inquirer approaches journalism. We seek to consistently address systemic racism and other forms of oppression through inclusive, actively anti-racist coverage that reflects, serves, and is informed by all communities.
Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Community
We are taking action to build trust with marginalized and under-resourced communities through active listening, asking for feedback, and sharing transparently about our progress on DE&I. We seek to ensure members of these communities feel seen, reflected, and valued in what The Inquirer covers.
Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
A note from Kendra Lee, VP of DE&I
We acknowledge that we still have far to go toward becoming a truly equitable and anti-racist organization, but we move forward with focus, urgency, and humility. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not achieved through once-in-awhile grand gestures and events; they require sustained, regular, and consistent actions.
For more information on The Inquirer’s commitment to DE&I, please contact Vice President of DE&I, Kendra Lee, at klee@inquirer.com.
Our ongoing DE&I work
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core to how we operate at The Inquirer. We began this work, in earnest, amid our national reckoning over social justice in summer 2020 and the impact of a racist headline. We committed then to becoming an anti-racist organization, beginning with commissioning Temple University to conduct an independent audit of our editorial content. You can read the full report here, but in short, we had — and continue to have — work to do on our culture, coverage of the news, and service to the community. Since then, we have taken concrete steps to improve.
Here is some of the work we’ve prioritized:
Inquirer for All (Inq4All), made up of more than half our newsroom and other Inquirer employees, is leading our transformation to produce more inclusive, actively anti-racist coverage.
Focusing on revamping our recruitment and hiring efforts to be intentionally inclusive, actively mitigate bias, and increase representation of women and people of color across the company.
Setting goals around representation, hiring, employee experience and culture, and training. Since March 2021, we have been reporting quarterly on our progress to all employees to help hold us accountable.
Training our employees on identifying and mitigating bias, racial trauma, inclusive leadership, and inclusive language.
Launching the Communities and Engagement Desk to address the longtime neglect and misrepresentation of marginalized communities in Philadelphia by foregrounding editorial and experiential content that is community-centric and empowers people to take action.
A More Perfect Union, a special project looking into the roots of systemic racism throughout institutions founded in Philadelphia, starting with an examination of The Inquirer, “Black City. White Paper.” by Wesley Lowery.
We still have far to go, but we remain steadfast in our belief that our ongoing efforts will result in better journalism for our readers, a better experience for our employees, and better relationships with the communities we serve.
Percent Employees Who Identify as BIPOC
Percent Employees Who Identify as Women
We remain steadfast in our belief that our ongoing efforts will result in better journalism for our readers, a better experience for our employees, and better relationships with the communities we serve.
‘If there is skepticism of what we have done, or what we can or will do, we have earned that as well. We recognize that the judgment of our efforts will not be based on the promises we make, but on the actions we take, and the policies and practices we put in place to improve our journalism.”
— Lisa Hughes, Publisher & CEO, from ‘An apology to Black Philadelphians and journalists’
Working at The Inquirer
Critical to our work is creating a diverse workforce with a culture that is inclusive and anti-racist, and one that fosters a sense of belonging for all. We offer benefits and programs to support the culture we want to build:
As a part of our commitment to creating and maintaining a positive, inclusive workplace, The Inquirer supports several employee resource groups (ERGs).
The Inquirer has adopted a dynamic, creative and flexible hybrid work policy. In-person connections are critical to collaboration and building community, and we also value the importance of work-life balance.
All employees participate in ongoing DE&I learning to build their knowledge and expertise, with an emphasis on how DE&I concepts impact and apply to their day-to-day work.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index has been used as a national benchmarking tool that measures organizations’ progress towards equitable and inclusive practices and policies for LGBTQIA+ staff for over 20 years.
Key contributors to the Inquirer’s score are the company’s inclusive healthcare benefits, workplace protections, and inclusive culture practices such as an active Employee Resource Group, internal education and best practices, and community outreach.
Fostering the Future of Journalism
The Inquirer helps develop high school and college students with an interest in journalism and other media skills through two specialized programs:
For more than 30 years, we have hosted the Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop. Named for Acel Moore, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning Inquirer journalist, this annual project is a hands-on program to introduce Philadelphia-area students to print and digital journalism.
The Inquirer also hosts a select number of college students as interns in the Newsroom and other departments of the company. The internship program aims to attract students from marginalized communities and HBCUs. More information is available at Inquirer.com/careers.
Communities & Engagement Desk
One of the recommendations that surfaced from Inq4All was the formation of a newsroom desk to engage with Philadelphia communities that have been underrepresented in The Inquirer over the years. This resulted in the Communities & Engagement Desk, whose mission is to address the longtime neglect and misrepresentation of marginalized communities in Philadelphia by foregrounding editorial and experiential content that is community-centric and empowers people to take action.
The desk, which was fully staffed and launched in 2022, is led by Senior Editor Sabrina Vourvoulias with a team of four reporters and a coverage editor. Their initial work included listening sessions with local community groups around Philly. The Communities & Engagement Desk also stood up the Soapbox Salons — 35 community members and leaders who meet regularly and participate in a group texting pilot, serving as a think tank, temperature check, and advisory council.
Employee Resource Groups
As a part of our commitment to creating and maintaining a positive, inclusive workplace, The Inquirer supports several employee resource groups (ERGs).
Kaleidoscope
is an employee resource group dedicated to staff from BIPOC communities and individuals with multicultural identities. Participants aim to create a workplace culture in which individuals of all identities feel safe and valued.
Prism
provides resources and education to The Inquirer staff and broader LGBTQ+ community, in order to ensure representation of LGBTQ+ communities and individuals in our hiring and promotional practices, our coverage, and our community engagement. In addition, the ERG fosters an internal network of allies and colleagues, while acting as cultural leaders and representatives of The Inquirer when collaborating externally.
Inquiring Women
brings individuals together to support and empower women, including female journalists, inside and outside the organization. Inquiring Women hosts events to discuss pressing issues that affect women and development opportunities to strengthen the future of journalism.