Typecasting journalists

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Out of the many discussions in my graduate journalism classes, only a few stick out. One in particular debated whether journalists should be “typecast” to a certain type of story based on their ethnic or cultural background.

For example, should a reporter with a Hispanic last name cover stories on immigration? Does it leave the door open to be bias or does it make the reporter appear less bias?

Personally, I don’t have an opinion on it. But it has stuck in my mind because of the local NPR station, KJZZ.

Each time that KJZZ covers a story on Arpaio or immigration, Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez seems to always be the reporter. It brings me back to this discussion. Does she choose to cover these stories or is she assigned? If she does choose them, is it a personal connection? If she does not choose them, why does the station assign her to those particular stories over others?

I’m particularly interested as to what journalists currently working in the field think, and whether this practice exists in newsrooms – or just in the minds of overzealous grad students.

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