The Dallas Morning News previously collaborated with news agencies under the banner ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion.’
In 2020, DMN and Texas Metro News announced a content-sharing and training partnership. The goal involved “elevating” black journalists and promoting diversity in newsrooms that were supposedly primarily white.
“There were people who felt that The Dallas Morning News would try to take over Texas Metro News, and some folks felt that I was selling out,” said Cheryl Smith, publisher of Texas Metro, reported NBCU Academy.
“I am not selling out to The Dallas Morning News. To the contrary, there are a myriad of opportunities from this collaboration. I love collaborating, and I love doing good journalism, and our community is better informed through this collaboration,” Smith said.
DMN president and publisher Grant Moise was vocal about supporting such DEI initiatives.
“Over decades, there was some distrust in the Black community about the Morning News, and some Black people felt that we were not genuinely serving the Black community,” Moise said, per NBCU.
“We have been in this fight for survival, and we lost sight about how diversity, equity, and inclusion is synonymous with a business plan,” Moise said. “I want people to know that we care about people of color and we value diversity. I want the Morning News to mirror this community with our employees and the community we serve. It’s the right thing to do.”
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, DMN admitted that its coverage leans left.
DMN public editor Stephen Buckley acknowledged that some of its readers have complained about a lack of fairness in the newspaper’s stories, alleging bias in reports about the Israel-Hamas war, issues involving transgender people, and former President Donald Trump, among other topics.
“Our Education Lab team, overseen by editor Eva-Marie Ayala, covers a host of hot-button political issues, from school choice (education savings accounts) to culture-war controversies. Readers complain that sometimes conservative voices do not show up in those stories. I would agree,” Buckley wrote.
The Dallas Express reached out to DMN publisher Grant Moise for comment but did not receive a response.