A person holding a microphone and interviewing a darker-skinned man who is wearing a dress shirt.
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Use our updated database to ensure equitable information access for your audience

Curated resources for journalists to gain a community’s trust and make the business case for audience engagement

By on May 12, 2023

We’re happy to announce that we have updated our Information Equity Database, a resource meant to help journalists reach and engage with communities who have been historically under- or misrepresented in journalism.

Curated by Online News Association contributor Meena Thiruvengadam, the database provides advice for identifying gaps in information access, gaining a community’s trust and making the business case for audience engagement to newsroom leadership.

Examples of what you’ll find include a cultural competence guide from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, an LGBTQ+ reference guide from GLAAD and a disability language style guide from the National Center on Disability and Journalism. These resources have been thoughtfully vetted and curated and are tagged by the community served — for example, there are categories for demographic context such as young people, those living with a disability and LGBTQ+ people.

This database is a roadmap for better serving segments of your audience who may have been overlooked or underserved in the past. Through this collection, we aim to help newsrooms and independent journalists better understand and serve the needs of all of their audiences.

The database was originally published in March 2021 as part of the ONA Community Circles project. The latest version builds on the collaboration that led to the original guide and removes outdated links, adds fresh resources and creates new labels to make the database easier to sort.

A screenshot of the ONA Information Equity Database with the text, "Explore the database."

ONA thanks 3M for its support of the newest edition of the database.


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Carrie Blazina

Carrie Blazina

As ONA’s communications manager, Carrie’s responsibilities include content strategy, event promotion, email and social media campaigns, press releases and overall editorial support.