THE INCLUSIVE JOURNALISM GUIDE

Good journalism is rooted in reporting and storytelling that is based in community, that reveals truth, and that includes essential elements in the doing.

The Legacy: Inclusive Journalism Guide, of standards, practices, values, and resources, is an offering to uphold what we call “good journalism”, which is gathered through diligent and thorough reporting in research, interviews and observations; through the key process of critical thinking, ethics and empathy; and that reflects central aspects, as noted in the guide, of context, voices, authenticity, and proportionality in the effort.​

The guide is composed of 10 sections that include Reporting and Storytelling; People and Interviews; Research and Data; Style Guides; Ethics; Mediascapes; Design; Journalists Organizations and Resources: Voices Outside The Bubble.

Our hope is that those who bear witness to report and tell stories use the guide, and its newsletters, in the process and craft of good journalism, coming with respect, humility, love and care for the people, their lives, their communities, and their stories.

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Design

All-Inclusive Photo Project

A diversity-focused open-source image library, for anyone wishing to promote diversity in travel and tourism.
Design

People’s Tech Project

The People’s Tech Project works to ensure that technology empowers communities to tell their own stories about who they are, set a vision for the world and society they want…
Design

The Black Experience in Graphic Design

At the apex of the civil rights movement in America, five Black designers spoke to the impacts of racism in the profession where “‘flesh-colored’ means pink”and the experience of Black…
Design

Code Black Media

Creating products and spreading information in ways that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
Design

BIPOC Design History

Provides a radical form of engagement with design history and education that provides an accessible payment structure. 
Design

Auditorial

An experiment in storytelling that adapts to suit the reader.
Design

WITNESS Media Lab

Dedicated to unleashing the potential of eyewitness video as a powerful tool to report, monitor, and advocate for human rights.
Design

Tonl

Culturally diverse stock photos that represent the true world we live in
Design

Unsplash

The internet’s source of freely-usable images.
Design

Pocstock

Discover beautiful images of people of color
Design

Nappy

Beautiful photos of Black and Brown people
Design

Where are the Black Designers?

A volunteer-run, nonprofit design advocacy organization to heal, support, amplify, and make space for the entire spectrum of Black creativity while also decolonizing design through education and wellness resources, events,…
Design

See In Black

A collective of Black photographers who invest in, uplift and build community around Black visibility.
Design

The Photographer Bill of Rights

Toolkits that offer context, resources, and best practices for lens-based workers and hiring bodies to successfully implement action steps, which aim to provide the materials necessary for empowering all individuals…
Design

Design Justice Network Principles

Rethinks design processes, centers people who are normally marginalized by design, and uses collaborative, creative practices to address the deepest challenges our communities face.
Design

Diversify Photo

A community of photographers, editors, and visual producers working to break with the predominantly colonial and patriarchal eye through which history and the mass media has seen and recorded the…
Design

Dark Matter University

Contributing to anti-racist model of design to challenge, inform, and reshape our present world toward a better future.
Design

Brown Girls Doc Mafia

An initiative advocating for over 4,500 women and non-binary people of color working in the documentary film industry around the world.
Design

10 new rules of design

The design industry has been caught up in Eurocentric ideas for too long. We talked to leading experts from MIT, Twitter, and more, who want to help break the spell.
Design

Art that forms new narratives

Alexandra Bell deconstructs print media to form new narratives that expose bias and disrupt assumptions of race and gender.
Design

Fonts in Use

A public archive of typography indexed by typeface, format, industry, and period.
Journalists Organizations and Resources

The Diversity Pledge Institute

Mentorship, training and career-advancement program for journalists, with an emphasis on people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Journalists Organizations and Resources

The Black Women Photographers collective

A community and platform to ensure that more Black women and non-binary photographers are empowered to make the industry as colorful as it ought to be.
Journalists Organizations and Resources

The Uproot Project

A network for journalists of color who cover environmental issues, as well as students and others aspiring to cover this beat.
Journalists Organizations and Resources

Media in Color

An organization that works to support, strengthen, and empower journalists and news outlets serving Black, Latino, Native American/Indigenous, and Asian/Pacific Islander communities in California.
Mediascapes

The Objective

A nonprofit newsroom building collective and narrative power for communities that have been misrepresented or dismissed in order to change the way journalism is practiced in the U.S.
Mediascapes

Racism 101

LAist
An initiative that gives residents the opportunity to ask tough questions about race — and facilitate their own deeper talks about races.
Mediascapes

Project Oasis

A map of the growing number of locally focused digital news publications and information about the choices they have made along their pathways to sustainability, as well as the most…
Mediascapes

Why Black media matters

Word in Black
Our newspapers allow us to speak to our own communities on our own terms with our own voices.
Mediascapes

On Atonement

News outlets have apologized for past racism. That should only be the start.
Mediascapes

Media 2070

Free Press
A research essay detailing the history of U.S. media participation in anti-Black racism and harm, and a growing consortium of media-makers and activists collectively dreaming reparative policies, interventions and futures…
Mediascapes

A Dangerous Distortion of Our Families

Color of Change
The findings of the study indicate that news and opinion media do, in fact, perpetuate inaccurate representations of Black families across several different areas of coverage.
Mediascapes

Off the Record

Study Hall
An interactive narrative about working as a journalist of color.
Mediascapes

Diversifying Journalism (DiJo)

An initiative to expand and amplify the voices of people in color in newsrooms in U.S. newsrooms, including sources and newsroom staff.
Mediascapes

The Center for Community Media

CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Serves news organizations that provide essential local coverage for populations whose voices and issues are underrepresented in mainstream media, and as a hub of information, resources, and training aimed at…
Mediascapes

MediaJustice

Leading the fight for racial, gender and economic equity in a digital age
Mediascapes

Press On

A Southern Media Collective For Movement Journalism
Mediascapes

Free Press

Created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media, and change the media to transform democracy to realize a just society.
Mediascapes

Define American

Define American
Humanizing the immigrant narrative, one story at a time
Mediascapes

Creative Futures

Ford Foundation
  40 Provocations to Reimagine the Arts, Documentary, and Journalism
Mediascapes

Content By Us

Content By Us
Content By Us is building a powerful collective of storytellers that actively shift and evolve the narrative of mainstream media to highlight and center our stories.
Mediascapes

American Journalism Program

American Journalism Project
The project makes grants to nonprofit news organizations, partners with communities to launch new organizations, and coaches leaders as they grow and sustain their newsrooms.
ReligionStyle Guides

Sikhism: A Reporter’s Guide

Religion News Foundation
The guide explores core beliefs and practices, ceremonies and celebrations, days of observance, and the representation of Sikhism in American society.
ReligionStyle Guides

Religion Stylebook

Religion Newswriters Association
A guide created for those who report on religion
Race and EthnicityStyle Guides

Media Guide for Palestine/Israel coverage

AMEJA
The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association offers research, data, guidance, and resources to help cover issues related to Israel and Palestine.
Race and EthnicityStyle Guides

Who Does the Acronym “BIPOC” Actually Serve?

The term meant to highlight the different experiences that Black and Indigenous people have from other people of color, has also been criticized for being used in a blanket way…
Race and EthnicityStyle Guides

Talking About Race: Whiteness

National Museum of African American History and Culture
An examination of Whiteness and white racialized identity in America.
Race and EthnicityStyle Guides

NABJ Style Guide

National Association of Black Journalists
HealthStyle Guides

The Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide

Reporting on Suicide
Guidelines developed by leading experts in suicide prevention and in collaboration with several international suicide prevention and public health organizations, schools of journalism, media organizations and key journalists as well…
HealthStyle Guides

The Carter Center

Journalism Resource Guide on Behavioral Health
Although stereotypes and misperceptions regarding mental health and substance use conditions are common, journalists can play an influential role in educating and informing the public about these serious public health…
HealthStyle Guides

Bias-Free Language

American Psychological Association
The guidelines for bias-free language contain both general guidelines for writing about people without bias across a range of topics and specific guidelines that address the individual characteristics of age,…
Gender & Sexual OrientationStyle Guides

What Is LGBTQIA+?

The Center
A guide to terms used to describe a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 
Gender & Sexual OrientationStyle Guides

GLAAD Media Reference Guide

GLADD
Education and guidance on telling LGBTQ people’s stories in ways that bring out the best in journalism.
Gender & Sexual OrientationStyle Guides

LGBTQIA+ Glossary

Video Out
The LGBTQIA+ Language and Media Literacy Program is a way to transform the way  journalists write and talk about LGBTQIA+ people
AgingStyle Guides

Media Takes: On Aging

Issue Lab
Aging is an active verb, a process, not a label; to experience life
Ethics

Best Practices

Borderless
The Borderless team created an addendum and a call on journalists to avoid “the second wound” — the hurtful impact that thoughtless, inaccurate and careless reporting can have on vulnerable…
Ethics

Radio Television Digital News Associations

Code of Ethics and Coverage Guidelines
Journalism’s obligation is to the public, and ethical decision-making should occur at every step of the journalistic process.
Research and Data

African American Historic Landmarks

The Sacramento Observer launched a directory of some of the important places in the community, created by a high school senior.
Research and Data

How To Be Anti-Racist

University of Southern California, School of Social Work
“We owe it to ourselves to create the conditions for people to understand how to disrupt racial trauma, discrimination and exclusion.”
Research and Data

Guide to Anti-Racist Books and Resources

Shippensburg University
An ongoing project to provide suggested books and other resources relating to the many aspects and dimensions of anti-racism work.
Research and Data

QSide

Institute for the Quantitative Study of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity. A research-into-action network uses quantitative approaches to address injustice
Research and Data

Big Local News

Tools to access public records about policing, public health, government and other vital topics.
Research and Data

The Opportunity Atlas

Trace the roots of today’s affluence and poverty back to the neighborhoods where people grew up, see where and for whom opportunity has been missing, and develop local solutions to…
Research and Data

The Fashion and Race Database

An online platform filled with tools that expand the narrative of fashion history and challenge mis-representation within the fashion system.
Research and Data

Prison Policy Initiative

Research to expose the broader harm of mass criminalization, and spark advocacy campaigns to create a more just society.
Research and Data

Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab

Brought together to rethink and retool the relationship between stories and statistics, power and technology, data and justice.
Research and Data

Equal Justice Initiative

An organization committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable…
Research and Data

Center for Health Journalism

Helping journalists investigate health challenges and solutions in their communities with fact-based, rigorous reporting that serves as a catalyst for change.
Research and Data

African American Intellectual History Society

African American Intellectual History Society
An independent scholarly organization that aims to foster dialogue about researching, writing, and teaching black thought and culture.
Research and Data

Data Be Lit

Content to empower data literacy advocates
Research and Data

How Can Local Leaders Use Data to Promote Equity?

Urban Institute
In the hands of community members, data can be a tool to advance local priorities by illuminating racial inequities, building consensus among stakeholders, and advocating for shifts in policies and…
Research and Data

Latino Policy & Politics Initiative

UCLA
An examination of the critical domestic policy challenges facing Latinos and other communities of color, to propel policy reforms that expand genuine opportunity for all Americans.
People and Interviews

WMC SheSource

Womens Media Center SheSource
An online database of media-experienced women experts who we connect to journalists, bookers and producers.
People and Interviews

Reflect Reality

Reflect Reality
A resource and toolkit to increase women as sources in the news media, and that includes strategies and best practices to amplify women’s expert and authoritative voice.
People and Interviews

Diverse Sources Database

Find experts from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the media.
People and Interviews

Diverse Databases

Diverse Databases
Databases of talented individuals from a rich range of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, with a wide variety of interests, experience, and expertise.
People and Interviews

Diverse Sources

Diverse Sources
A database of underrepresented experts in the areas of science, health and the environment.
People and Interviews

Asian American Journalists Association Studio

Asian American Journalists Association Studio
An Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) speakers bureau, representing a broad range of AAJA members, subject matter experts, community leaders, and graduates of the organization’s media trainings.
People and Interviews

500 Women Scientists

500 Women Scientists
Making science open, inclusive, and accessible by fighting racism, patriarchy, and oppressive societal norms.
People and Interviews

Finding Diverse Sources for Science Stories

Finding Diverse Sources for Science Stories
The lack of diversity in science journalism limits which stories get told, how they are told, and whose voices are heard. It also perpetuates stereotypes, societal injustice, and distrust of…
People and Interviews

Sources of Color

Sources of Color
An online platform created in a direct response to the lack of representation found in the media.
Reporting and Storytelling

Reporting on Native American Communities

NBCU Academy
Much reporting about Native American communities, especially reservation life, includes a paragraph that encapsulates poverty statistics, suicide rates and unemployment but fails to present context about how we got here.
Reporting and Storytelling

NAJA Media Spotlight Report

Native American Journalists Association
The NAJA analyzed the New York Times’ coverage of Indigenous topics from 2015-2021, and more than half of the articles used stereotypes found on the NAJA Bingo Card. The report…
Reporting and Storytelling

You captured police abuse on video. Now what?

WITNESS, The Media Lab
Filming an incident of police abuse can be an emotionally charged experience. WITNESS has set out to create initial guidance to help those who have just filmed an incident of…
Reporting and Storytelling

Racial Equity Tools

RET Team
Tools designed to support those working to achieve racial equity, and resources that use language and analysis reflecting an understanding of systemic racism, power, and privilege.
Reporting and Storytelling

Solidarity Journalism Initiative

Center for Media Engagement, UT Austin
An initiative to help journalists, journalism educators, and journalism students improve coverage of communities that are marginalized, noting that the decision to report – or not report – on these…
Reporting and Storytelling

Reporting On Sexual Violence In Conflict

Dart Centre
Guidelines for more accurate and insightful reporting, while reducing the risk of further harm to those brave enough to tell their stories.
Reporting and Storytelling

Racial Justice Protests Influenced Local News Reporting, Study Finds

Annenburg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
A Media, Inequality, and Change Center report finds that news coverage of policing did become more inclusive and less dehumanizing, but was still heavily slanted toward a police perspective.
Reporting and Storytelling

Guide to Community Engaged Journalism

America Amplified
A playbook on innovative community engagement strategies that include elevating diverse voices and building trust in local journalism.
Reporting and Storytelling

Beware of Truths

School of Thought
The most common biases and fallacies that can shape one’s thoughts and impact their journalism.
Reporting and Storytelling

How Not to Cover America

The American Prospect
As local newspapers shrink and many of the national media close local bureaus, we depend increasingly on coverage by reporters who parachute into communities. But even the best are likely…
Reporting and Storytelling

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.
Reporting and Storytelling

Reality Checks

Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
The Fault Lines concept, based on a framework of race, gender, generation, geography and class, helps reporters understand and cover the diverse spectrum of people.
Reporting and Storytelling

Reducing Unconscious Bias in Journalism

Seattle Times Diversity & Inclusion Task Force
Journalists also bring an array of experiences, opinions and assumptions to subjects, and should rely upon tools and safeguards against bias to help ensure a complete and accurate news report.