The leadership of The Dallas Morning News publicly and unapologetically embraces and supports DEI policies.

On the news outlet’s “About Us” webpage, the DallasNews Corporation states:

“It is vital to the health and success of our company and the communities we serve to put diversity, equity, and inclusion at the core of all we do. … Diversity, equity, and inclusion will be embedded in the hiring, promotion, and development of our employees, in reaching diverse audiences with our content, and in choosing the companies with which we do business.”

The bio for Leona Allen Ford, a member of the corporation’s management committee and the chief talent and diversity officer, states that she is “responsible for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the company. In April 2022, her role expanded to include Chief Talent and Diversity Officer for The Dallas Morning News and Medium Giant, the company’s marketing services agency. She’s responsible for all human resources functions for the company.”

Another committee member who has DEI ties is Katrice Hardy, DMN’s vice president and executive editor. Hardy is a board member of The Marshall Project, an organization that seeks to highlight “inequities” in the justice system.

She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), an organization that promotes LGBTQ and Racial Equity content. NABJ offers a style guide for how to report “Officer-involved Shootings,” capitalizing the word Black, and an NABJ LGBTQ+ Sensitivity Training.

DallasNews Corporation’s chief product and innovation officer, Chris Patheiger, is a board observer for the Local Media Consortium. LMC has a blog post about DEI and the need for equity.

“New series of The Exchange Highlights Black Business Leaders Advancing Equity in Their Communities,” one blog post’s title reads.

As previously reported by The Dallas Express, DMN’s parent company has been promoting DEI for some time.

DallasNews Corporation changed its name from the A.H. Belo Corporation in 2021 to embrace the social justice movement and distance itself from its founder, A.H. Belo, who was a colonel in the Confederate Army.

“We are keenly aware that the relationship of our company’s name to a person who figured prominently in the Confederate Army is the source of discomfort, even pain, for many of our fellow citizens,” company CEO Robert Decherd told investors on a conference call. “And that is intolerable to the leaders of this enterprise.”

The Dallas Express reached out to the DMN Publisher Grant Moise, the Editorial Board, Patheiger, Allen Ford, and Hardy for comment, but no response was received as of the publication deadline.