Diversity & Inclusive Reporting: A Guide for UK Journalists

NUJ and IPSO Discrimination Clauses

Both the NUJ Code of Conduct and the IPSO Editors' Code contain specific provisions on discrimination in reporting:

• IPSO Clause 12 (Discrimination): The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any physical or mental illness or disability. Details of these characteristics must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.
• NUJ Code, Clause 10: A journalist does not produce material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.
• Ofcom Broadcasting Code: Section 2 (Harm and Offence) and Section 3 (Crime, Disorder, Hatred and Abuse) impose additional obligations on broadcast journalists to avoid material that incites hatred or discrimination.

Language Guidance: Words Matter

Language evolves, and journalists have a professional duty to keep pace. The words you choose shape how readers understand communities and individuals. Here are key principles:

• Person-first language: In most contexts, refer to “a person with a disability” rather than “a disabled person” — though note that many disability activists in the UK prefer “disabled person” under the social model of disability. When in doubt, ask the subject.
• Avoid collective labels: “The homeless” or “the elderly” reduces people to a single characteristic. Use “people experiencing homelessness” or “older people.”
• Racial and ethnic terminology: Use the terms that communities use for themselves. “Black British” (capitalised) is widely preferred. “BAME” has been widely rejected by the communities it claims to represent and many UK newsrooms have stopped using it.
• Mental health: Avoid using mental health conditions as adjectives (“schizophrenic weather”) or casual descriptors. Report on mental health with the same rigour and sensitivity you would apply to physical health conditions.
• Asylum and immigration: “Asylum seeker” (someone who has applied for asylum) and “refugee” (someone whose claim has been granted) are not interchangeable. “Illegal immigrant” is best avoided; the UNHCR and NUJ both recommend “irregular migrant” or “undocumented migrant.”

Covering Marginalised Communities

Too often, marginalised communities only appear in the news in negative contexts — as victims, suspects, or problems to be solved. Inclusive reporting means telling the full range of stories:

• Tell positive stories too: Communities are not defined solely by the challenges they face. Cover achievements, culture, innovation, and everyday life.
• Listen first: Before reporting on a community you are not part of, spend time listening. Attend community events, read community media, and build relationships before you start writing.
• Avoid parachute journalism: Dropping into a community only when there is a crisis and leaving as soon as the news cycle moves on breeds distrust. If you cover a community, commit to sustained engagement.
• Centre the community's voice: Let people speak for themselves rather than relying on outside experts to explain their experiences. Use direct quotes, not paraphrases, where possible.
• Acknowledge your own position: If you are reporting on a community you do not belong to, be transparent about this in your approach and consider collaborating with journalists who do.

Avoiding Stereotypes in Reporting

Stereotypes in journalism are not always deliberate — they are often the result of lazy shorthand, rushed deadline writing, or unchallenged assumptions. Common traps include:

• Describing women by their appearance or family role when you would not do the same for a man in the same position
• Using stock photographs that reinforce stereotypes (e.g., images of mosques to illustrate stories about terrorism involving Muslim suspects)
• Framing entire communities as monolithic — “the Muslim community thinks...” or “the Black community wants...” when in reality there is a diversity of opinion within every group
• Treating disability as inherently tragic or inspirational (“wheelchair-bound” or “brave battler”) rather than as a straightforward fact
• Defaulting to male experts and spokespeople when equally qualified women are available

Source Diversity: Who Gets Quoted?

Research consistently shows that news sources are disproportionately male, white, middle-class, and London-based. Improving source diversity is one of the most practical steps journalists can take toward more inclusive coverage:

• Audit your sources: Periodically review who you have quoted over the past month. Are you hearing from a representative range of voices?
• Build diverse contact lists: Actively seek out experts, commentators, and case studies from underrepresented groups. Organisations like Expert Women and the 50:50 Project can help.
• Go beyond the usual suspects: If your first instinct is to call the same think tank or academic every time, challenge yourself to find new voices.
• Consider geography: UK journalism is heavily concentrated in London. Make a deliberate effort to include voices from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and English regions outside the capital.

Disability Reporting

Disability coverage in UK media has historically been poor, oscillating between “tragedy” and “inspiration” narratives while overlooking the systemic barriers disabled people face. Better reporting starts with these principles:

• Use the social model: The social model of disability holds that people are disabled by barriers in society, not solely by their conditions. Frame stories accordingly — “the building is inaccessible” rather than “she cannot access the building because of her disability.”
• Avoid outdated language: Terms like “wheelchair-bound,” “suffering from,” “handicapped,” and “mentally retarded” are unacceptable. Use “wheelchair user,” “has [condition],” and “disabled person” or “person with a disability.”
• Include disabled people as experts: Disabled people are experts on their own experience and often on wider policy issues. Do not quote only non-disabled professionals when covering disability stories.
• Cover policy, not just human interest: Benefits assessments, access to work, housing adaptations, and transport are legitimate news stories that directly affect millions of people.

Trans Coverage Guidelines

Reporting on transgender issues is one of the most contested areas in contemporary UK journalism. The following principles draw on IPSO rulings, Ofcom guidance, and NUJ recommendations:

• IPSO Clause 12: The Editors' Code prohibits prejudicial or pejorative reference to gender identity. A person's trans status should only be mentioned if genuinely relevant.
• Use correct names and pronouns: IPSO has upheld complaints where publications have repeatedly used a trans person's former name (deadnaming) or incorrect pronouns. Use the name and pronouns the person uses.
• Ensure balance on policy debates: When covering policy debates around gender recognition, healthcare, or single-sex spaces, seek a genuine range of viewpoints and ensure all positions are represented fairly and accurately.
• Distinguish between individuals and policy: A story about a policy debate (e.g., the Gender Recognition Act) is different from a story about an individual trans person. Do not use individuals as proxies for policy arguments without their informed consent.
• Avoid sensationalism: Do not treat a person's trans status as inherently newsworthy. The fact that someone is transgender should be reported with the same straightforwardness as any other relevant personal characteristic.

Practical Newsroom Tips

Inclusive reporting is not just an individual responsibility — it requires structural change in newsrooms. Here are practical steps editors and journalists can take:

1. Diversify your newsroom: The most effective way to produce inclusive journalism is to have a diverse team of journalists. Recruit from a broader range of backgrounds and invest in training schemes for underrepresented groups. See our guide to journalism scholarships and bursaries.
2. Create a style guide: Develop or adopt an inclusive language style guide and update it regularly. The Guardian, BBC, and Channel 4 all publish useful references.
3. Run regular training: Diversity and inclusion training should be ongoing, not a one-off box-ticking exercise. Include sessions on unconscious bias, community engagement, and legal obligations.
4. Monitor your output: Track the diversity of sources, subjects, and images in your coverage over time. Share the data with the team and set improvement targets.
5. Establish community panels: Create advisory panels of community representatives who can provide feedback on your coverage and alert you to stories you are missing.
6. Review complaints and feedback: Take reader complaints about representation seriously. Patterns of complaint can reveal blind spots in your coverage.
7. Lead from the top: Editors and senior journalists set the tone. If the leadership values inclusive reporting, it will be reflected in the output.

Practical Checklist

Apply this before filing or publishing any story involving individuals from marginalised groups:

• Applied the relevance test: is any protected characteristic mentioned only where genuinely material to the story?
• Language checked against the NUJ style guide and your publication's house style
• Sources represent a range of voices, not only the usual spokespeople
• Headline and standfirst free of collective labels or stereotyping language
• Stock images reviewed for stereotyping risk
• Trans individuals referred to by the name and pronouns they use
• If a policy debate is covered, a genuine range of viewpoints sought and represented
• Disability framed using the social model where applicable

Common Mistakes

• Stereotyping in the lede: The opening paragraph sets the frame for everything that follows. A lede that reduces a person to their ethnicity, religion, or disability — before any other detail — signals to readers that the characteristic defines the story, even if the body contradicts this.
• Identifying ethnicity unnecessarily: Clause 12 is among the most commonly breached provisions in IPSO complaints precisely because journalists add ethnic or religious identifiers as a matter of habit rather than editorial necessity. Ask: would you mention this characteristic if the subject were white and Christian?
• Conflating inclusive reporting with censorship: The NUJ Code and IPSO Clause 12 require sensitivity and accuracy, not the suppression of contested topics. Reporting on crime statistics disaggregated by ethnicity, covering debates about religious practices, or investigating gender-based policy questions are all legitimate journalism. The obligation is to do so fairly and accurately, not to avoid the subjects.
• Quoting community “leaders” who do not represent the community: The temptation to find a single authoritative voice for a complex community leads to tokenism and misrepresentation. Treat community spokespeople as one voice among many, not as definitive representatives.
• Using “BAME” as a catch-all: The term has been widely rejected across UK journalism, academia, and government. It is imprecise, groups vastly different communities together, and has been disowned by many of the communities it claims to describe. Be specific about ethnicity where relevant.
• Covering disability only through tragedy or inspiration: Both framings reduce disabled people to their relationship to non-disabled norms. Report on disabled people's lives with the same range of narrative registers you would use for anyone else.

Red Flags

• A story whose only angle is a person's membership of a protected group — e.g., “Muslim businessman wins award” where the religion is not relevant to the award
• A stock photograph that depicts a racial or ethnic group in a stereotyped context (e.g., an image of a food bank queue used to illustrate a story about immigration)
• A lede or headline that leads with a person's disability, sexuality, or ethnicity before any information about what they did or said
• A policy debate story where one side of the argument has named, credentialled sources and the other side has only anonymous paraphrases
• A story that uses a trans person's deadname or incorrect pronouns, even once
• A mental health story that uses clinical diagnostic language as a pejorative (“psychotic,” “delusional,” “narcissist”) without clinical evidence

Primary Sources

• IPSO Clause 12: Discrimination — full text and guidance notes
• NUJ Code of Conduct — discrimination clauses and ethical guidance
• Ofcom Broadcasting Code, Section 2 — harm and offence standards for broadcasters
• Guardian Style Guide — widely referenced inclusive language reference
• BBC Editorial Guidelines — impartiality, diversity, and harm guidance
• Equality Act 2010 — protected characteristics and Public Sector Equality Duty
• UK Journalism Ethics Codes — full texts of NUJ and IPSO codes
• NUJ Code of Conduct Explained — clause-by-clause guide