SAN ANTONIO – President Joe Biden’s cabinet is expected to be one of the most diverse in United States history and includes a record number of women.
That inclusivity is carrying over into news coverage of his administration.
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Four major networks, ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC, have newly-appointed women as their White House correspondents.
The group includes two women of color -- NBC’s Kristen Welker, who last year became the first black woman to moderate a presidential debate since 1992, and ABC’s Cecilia Vega.
Kaitlan Collins and Nancy Cordes will be covering the White House for CNN and CBS respectively.
Arelis Hernandez, vice president for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for print and Texas-based Washington Post reporter, tells KSAT organizations like NAHJ have been pushing for years to make newsrooms more representative of the communities they serve.
“If we’re going to survive as an industry, we need to respond to the needs of our audience,” Hernandez said. “Our audience is multicultural. Our audience is increasingly Hispanic. Our audience is looking for stories that are about, and for them. That means telling stories from the perspective of journalists of color, particularly Hispanics.”
Hernandez said although it’s great to see women in charge of storytelling, she hopes to see more women, especially women of color, rising to higher positions of power within major news networks. “I hope that these moves are not just experimental in nature,” she said. “I hope that these are long-term commitments.”
According to the latest census, 50.8% of the U.S. population are women. Hernandez said, “it’s about time” that statistic is represented in the people in charge of storytelling.
Hernandez said she’s looking forward to seeing how that representation changes news coverage.
“As long as we’re telling stories from different perspectives and trying our best to capture the totality of that American experience in all its iterations, colors and backgrounds. That’s what I’m going to be looking for,” Hernandez said.