NYC Initiative Offers $500,000 Race-Based Journalism Scholarship to ‘Increase Diversity’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a new $500,000 scholarship fund that will be exclusively offered to “students of color” for the purpose of increasing “diversity” in the newsroom.
The “Diversity in Journalism” scholarship is a part of the “Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City” which is run primarily through donations from the public. The city’s press release claimed that a lack of diversity in journalism creates “deep-rooted issues,” however the “issues” cited were simply a lack of certain races and ethnicities in specific employment categories. The city claims that “racial and ethnic disparities continue to be a serious problem across the industry.”
“Unfortunately, too many newsrooms still do not look like the communities they cover, with Black, Brown, Asian-American, and so many other communities underrepresented in our press corps,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said following the announcement. “This scholarship fund for students of color will help support students from New York City as they work to repair the inequities we’re seeing in newsrooms, building new pipelines for students to become journalists and increasing the diversity of this essential industry.”
The Mayor’s office has been accused by some on social media of “soliciting private funds” through donations to “exclude white kids under the guise of ‘diversifying’ the media.”
“How demoralizing,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Donors to the Mayor’s Fund include the left-wing mega-donor George Soros’ Open Society Foundations,” the Post Millenial reported. “The foundation has been part of the fund’s “donor spotlight.” One of Soros’ children, Jonathan Soros, and his wife Jennifer, with their organization, the Jennifer & Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation, also support the Mayor’s Fund.”
Diversity initiatives, scholarship programs, and admissions standards have all been called into public question following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that stuck down affirmative action. Other standards have quickly taken the place of the primarily race-based college admissions standards however, dubbed “adversity scores,” these new mechanisms rate students on a “disadvantage scale.” This scale rewards students with “disadvantaged” backgrounds with a higher score, and thus, a better shot at making the final cut.
Many speculate, however, that following the Supreme Court’s effective termination of affirmative action, other race-based initiatives and incentives may be on their way out — or to court.
