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The Management of Diversity 1
Public Policy Perspective
by Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Ibim Semenitari, Tunde Olokode, Tinubu

Diversity is what we have to live with. It is both a challenge and an asset to our experience of society. There are differences in tastes, values, interests, beliefs and attitudes among people in different areas of the world. These differences also vary between populations and geographical groups causing diversity at both the individual and group levels. Differences come in the form of ethnicity, religion, class, ideology, gender or age. These facets represent the beauty that diversity puts into our lives. Unfortunately, difference also carries the potentials of conflict, misunderstanding, intolerance and jingoism.

Diversity becomes a public policy matter to the extent that the government or public authority - which has the responsibility of providing law, order and welfare, the necessary environment for the individual or group pursuit of happiness - confronts these challenges. Some governments attempt to promote diversity for national growth and development, and limit all forms of discrimination, jingoism, intolerance and other attitudes that lead to severe conflicts and violence.

Journalists are not peacekeepers, but they will almost certainly be promoters of peace. Their role in the process requires that they be apprised of public policy initiatives to manage diversity. These provide both the context for the events they report and the context in which they play their professional roles. Public policies directed to manage diversity covers both the efforts of government to promote social integration within the nation and those designed to help journalists be mindful of balance and fairness in reporting. The former attempts to create equal representation of issues and events, while the latter guides the process of diverse reporting.

The management of diversity is not limited by national boundaries. Globalization has intensified interaction between citizens of different countries across the globe. Therefore, events in one nation have serious and immediate impact on other nations. Thus, the problem of one state often becomes the problem of the world. It has become increasingly difficult for governments to defend the idea of internal affairs. In addition, the increase in identity conflicts that have produced refugees across the globe makes it imperative to have international regulation of conflicts that in the past would be viewed as strictly internal. Currently, there are both regional and global initiatives to manage diversity. These take the form of peacekeeping, peace enforcement, peace building and technical assistance, international treaties, conventions and declarations.

Moreover, the globalization of democratic values and the increasing universal consensus on fundamental human rights have led to the emergence of several charters and initiatives to define, promote and protect these rights and values. (For a review of these initiatives see "What Commitments Have Governments Made to Ensure the Realization of the Human Rights of Ethnic Minorities?" in chapter VIII) Together, these provide the public policy framework for reporting diversity.

1. This article is one of three in a series ("The Management of Diversity: Public Policy Perspective," "Strategies for Managing Diversity: Traditional Perspective," "Issue of Diversity: The Media Perspective") which were jointly authored by some of the Reporting Diversity Network members. Contributors are Adesuwa Onyenokwe of One-on-One NTA, Ibim Semenitari of Tell, Tinubu of Galaxy TV, and Tunde Olokode of OGBC. Dr. Albert Isaac of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, organized the various concepts into the three articles.