CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mayor Lightfoot is calling for more diversity among the news media who cover local government. She kicked off the discussion with a controversial offer of interviews.
With Lori Lightfoot's two-year anniversary of mayor approaching, her office started offering one-on-one interviews, but only with reporters of color. When it became apparent that was happening, it became a news story in itself.
Lightfoot has responded with a two-page letter. It says she's noted that, at a time when the city has a Black, lesbian mayor, a Latino city clerk, a Black treasurer, and a majority Black and Latino City Council, almost all of the reporters covering City Hall are white. So she wanted to make a point.
The Mayor said there are only a handful of beat reporters of people of color in the City Hall press corps and no women of color. She said she finds that unacceptable and others should as well.
She said the press corps is a filter through which much of government is dissected and explained to the public. She added, "diversity matters and how can you, as the media truly speak to the needs and the interests of diverse and nuanced communities you claim to serve?"
She also noted the lack of diversity among those who run the newsrooms and called on the companies to do better.
The Mayor called on media companies to cultivate, recruit, support, and retain young reporters of color in their ranks.
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