There was an important Twitter thread today from Gregory Lee Jr., the former President of the National Association of Black of Journalists.

To recap my research, these are the diversity numbers @TheAthleticHQ:
87.3% white
74.6% white males
4% Black journalists
0 black females
0 black editors.
7% Asian
1.4% Hispanic
12.6% Women
— Gregory Lee Jr. (@nabjprez2011) April 2, 2018

Equally important was The Athletic’s response:

Thanks for holding us accountable Greg. We assure you that diversity is a priority for the company and we have been working closely with the NABJ to accelerate these efforts.
— The Athletic HQ (@TheAthleticHQ) April 2, 2018

This is not a “Bash The Athletic” post. In the most recent APSE Race and Gender Report Card (which, inexplicably, is from 2014):

• 91.5 percent of the sports editors were white.
• 83.5 percent of the columnists were white.
• 85 percent of the reporters were white.
• 90.1 percent of the sports editors were men.
• 87.6 percent of the columnists were men.
• 87.4 percent of the reporters were men.

This is an industry-wide problem. Sports journalism needs to become more diverse if it is going to survive and thrive.

There’s a video clip I always show my students when we talk about diversity in journalism.

It has nothing to do with journalism, or the news media.

It’s about Saturday Night Live.

he value of diversity is not that it’s the right thing to do (although it is). It’s not about checking a box, or righting historical wrongs.

The value of diversity is you tell better stories. You serve your community better - your entire community. You expose your audience to different voices, to people who may not look like most of them, to new ideas and worldview. That is the heart of the open marketplace of ideas. SNL suffered from its lack of diversity not for a grand social reason, but because it was unable to do skits and make fun of Oprah Winfrey for years.

It is impossible to be involved in media at any level in 2018 and not think of diversity. From the #MeToo movement, to the growing representation of women in action movies, to the way reporters cover the white supremacist movement emboldened by the 2016 election, to the protests before NFL games, diversity is at the center of what we do.

As media producers, and indeed as media consumers at this very moment, we have enormous power and responsibility to seek out diverse opinions and diverse stories, that a key part of their jobs is to be respectful and to listen to underserved and misrepresented populations.

That’s the challenge for The Athletic and all sports media. To become more diverse.

It’s also our biggest opportunity