The DEI whiplash continues

There’s no real way to get around the fact that 2025 was a very rough year for those championing diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion. And many of us thought 2020 was the most taxing in a long while.

But amid the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020, many of us from historically marginalized communities finally felt liberated to be more candid to our peers and managers about the discrimination, bullying, and harassment we have endured inside and outside newsrooms for simply existing.

However, this year, the pendulum has swung violently in the opposite direction. Essentially, leadership told many of us to “reword or avoid any mention of DEI,” be leery of explicitly mentioning the communities most harmed by inequality or inequity in our work, and avoid citing who is committing the harm out of fear of retribution.

Many of us knew the backlash to the media industry’s embrace of DEI during the pandemic was brewing. The overcorrective reaction by some institutions to the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision dismantling affirmative action was a harbinger for the target placed on DEI, depending on the outcome of the 2024 election in the U.S.

So when we saw media organizations quickly capitulate and cave in 2025, we weren’t totally surprised. There’s a cyclical nature of DEI being embraced and shunned in the U.S. That doesn’t mean, however, that we are numb to any shock, especially when we see people lose their jobs after being promised support just a few years ago because those in power said diversity mattered.

I expect more whiplash in 2026, albeit slower. It may come for those in the media who will start to regret their impulsive reaction in killing their DEI work and giving in to government pressure when we are the Fourth Estate, intended to hold those in power accountable. I sense there will be some accountability toward those who gave in and those who held firm. Just look already at consumers boycotting Target for curbing DEI versus lauding Costco for sticking by it.

Many in our space have been quietly watching and keeping tabs on who are the “real ones” and who were opportunistic in using DEI as window dressing to avoid looking bad publicly or to make a quick buck. To some of us, we saw how disingenuous that effort was and even could sense their relief when they saw an opportunity to shirk responsibility, under the guise that it was purely the Trump administration’s fault.

Some industry folks I spoke with in recent months felt it was important to note there was no mandate in the outcome of the last election; only 1.5 percentage points separated the two leading presidential candidates and their vastly different visions of what makes America great. Voter turnout shows we remain narrowly divided, with the ideological pendulum swinging back and forth since the dawn of the new millennium. That movement rocks how we confront or avoid the reality of demographic change, particularly when it comes to the gradual and hard-fought visibility of historically marginalized groups finally obtaining positions of power for the first time in this country’s history.

I haven’t lost hope. Some good self-reflection may come from us thinking about where DBEI work will go from here. My colleagues have pointed me to some helpful findings in a recent survey report commissioned by NxtLevel and conducted by Bellwether Research & Consulting and Hart Research on DEI.

The group conducted an online survey of roughly 3,000 registered voters nationwide in June this year, during the height of the DEI backlash, which found that voters in 2025 are more familiar with the term “DEI” than they were in 2024. The survey found that a majority of people have a positive view of inclusive practices with 56 percent rating them as positive, 30 percent negative and 14 percent saying they have never heard of it.

The report said that the use of the term “equal opportunity” was less polarizing or triggering than the acronym “DEI,” despite the principles behind them being the same. So that may indicate there is room to learn how we translate the principles of inclusion into how it benefits people of all socioeconomic backgrounds moving forward without capitulation to giving up on this work. Also, people think DEI is only about race, when it actually addresses how so many other groups face discrimination in society and the workplace.

So I think some will regret giving up on DEI and others will learn from the backlash how to better communicate the value of inclusive policies toward upholding the democratic ideals that the vast majority of Americans believe. The U.S. is losing ground in its power globally and standing as a destination place due to anti-immigrant sentiment and shortsighted program cuts that help the most financially insecure households domestically and abroad. It’s an approach hitched to the anti-DEI movement that will harm and haunt all of us for generations to come.

The attacks on DEI this year aimed to wear us down, to erase the work we’ve built for decades, and, by extension, ultimately aim to erase us from the narrative of what makes America great. But that myopic approach has never worked if you read up on history. Ultimately, we know diversity makes our communities more rich, fun and welcoming — and that it’s also good for business. And research shows that humans seek out a sense of belonging to find self-worth, which is why I champion including the “B” in DBEI as I think that focus may help get past the maligning of this acronym.

But bottom line: We aren’t going back in time, nor giving up. We may have to adapt our approaches, pace ourselves, and pick our battles. There will be more casualties in the crossfire. But, amid the haze we’re in now, the ancestors are with us, and we won’t allow their work to be in vain. The resiliency wired into our DNA will show itself again in 2026, if we dare to look closely.