Representation of diversity in the world of journalism is important, as journalism is what informs us as a society.
Yvonne Dennis, a Philadelphia native, is breaking barriers by hold a position of power in the field of journalism. She is a professor of journalism as well as the News Editor at The Wall Street Journal.
Dennis followed a career path in journalism because she was always inquisitive and saw how valued newspapers were in her household.
Her resulting success was aided by having interned at several newspapers before she had even graduated from college is an inspiration for women wanting to get into the field of journalism.
Currently, her job as the News Editor at The Wall Street Journal is paired with teaching positions at a few different universities lining the east coast.
She has taught Newspaper Editing and Production and Elements of Writing at Temple University, Hunter College in New York City and The College of New Jersey. Furthermore, she has taught an introductory journalism course at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.
Dennis spent her college years interning at a slew of newspapers including the Times Union of Albany, The Times of Trenton and The New York Daily News. She began working as an intern at the Philadelphia Daily News after graduating from college in May of 1991.
After interning at the Philadelphia Daily News for about eight months, she took a position at the News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina in January of 1992.
By year’s end the Philadelphia Daily News had contacted her in regards to a full-time copy-editing position that had just opened. “I hopped at the chance to be back in my hometown of Philadelphia and at a newspaper that was dear to me for many reasons,” she said.
From there, she spent the next twelve years working continuously with the Philadelphia Daily News.
Now, she is the News Editor at the Wall Street Journal, a well-known newspaper nationwide.
When asked how being a woman may have affected her journey to this position she states, “It probably has, I can’t really speak to how other people have perceived or treated me.” Dennis also said that she has attended and participated in “training targeted towards minorities.”
As a professor and editor in the field, Dennis understands that diversity is necessary in such a career. She states, “Companies that diversify their ranks realize it is prudent to do so because diversity in decision-making generates diversity of ideas and helps them understand and reach diverse customers.”
This idea seems to be on the rise as a study done by Media Matters shows that the percentage of minorities in newsrooms has been increasing since the late 70s, although the increments by which it is increasing are very small.
However, articles done by the Women’s Media Center and Nieman Reports discussing the status of women in the United States media show that the number of women represented in newsrooms, print and television have remained relatively stagnant for decades. This makes the importance of Dennis’ position as a professor and News Editor even more essential to the future of women in journalism.
When it comes to inspiring and guiding her students to a career in journalism she states, “Work hard and demonstrate interest in the entities for which you want to work and how you want to help them, not just how you want to help yourself.”
Dennis also puts a lot of importance in future journalists being properly informed using newspapers, “subscribe to news sources,” she says, “in my opinion, it is the height of hypocrisy to expect the public to keep us in business by buying our product if we are not willing to pay for quality information ourselves.”