What do Science and PR Week share in common?

What do Science and PR Week share in common?

For better and worst, both publications have spotlighted disturbing gaps, exclusion and omission of worthy African American professionals in the respective fields of biomedical research and public relations.

Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, published a study revealing that Black researchers are systematically denied coveted NIH research grants, regardless of education, training, citizenship, country of origin and prior research and publication history.  The study found that Black applicants are 10 percentage points less likely than Whites to be awarded NIH research funding. 

PR Week, a stalwart trade publication, churned out a special edition in July anointing “50 PR Power Elites.”  In a field where women dominate, a whopping 39 of the 50 titans were men.  None were African Americans! 

Two of my colleagues, incensed about the bias, weighed in with a strong missive to PR Week editor Steve Barrett.

Where the PR Week and NIH case diverge is in the institutional response. 

Barrett, high-handed and unapologetic, pushed back against criticism by declaring that he never considers race, gender or ethnicity in a selection process.  He went on to define power and influence as the big corporate entities that rake in the largest revenue. 


Switch screens to the NIH. The findings of exclusion brought sober reflection and an acknowledgment that the status quo was unacceptable.

NIH officials pledged immediate action to correct the inequality. "In order to improve the health outcomes of all Americans, it's important for the biomedical workforce to reflect the diversity of the population," lead author Donna Ginther, professor of economics at the University of Kansas, said in an NIH news release." As the population becomes increasingly diverse, we will continue to get further from that goal unless the community intervenes."

PR Week’s Barrett got it right when he said he doesn’t see race. Apparently having the luxury to be blind to color, he sees only people who look like him.  Diversity requires an intentional and focused gaze on race. It demands an embrace of those who are different across a spectrum, and the beneficiaries are not just the once excluded; everyone ends up better off.  I’m left with two questions: Do I cancel my subscription to PR Week? Or start my own “PR Power” list?