In 2020, following George Floyd’s killing by a police officer in Minneapolis and amid Black Lives Matter protests, Gannett — America’s largest newspaper company, home to USA Today and more than 200 other local newspapers — pledged to “make its workforce as diverse as the country by 2025 and to expand the number of journalists focused on covering issues related to race and identity, social justice and equality.”

Well, it’s 2025, and what a difference five years makes: Hanaa’ reported Thursday that Gannett will no longer report its workforce demographic data and has removed all mentions of diversity from a page on its corporate site:

The announcement was made in a company town hall meeting on Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson told me the company is “adapting to the evolving regulatory environment,” and, in a follow-up email when I asked for clarification, referred me to Trump’s January 22 executive order eliminating DEI initiatives in federal agencies and calling for an end to “private sector DEI discrimination.”

Gannett did not specify whether the Trump administration had contacted anyone at the company, or asked them to make changes. Major U.S. companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta have also rolled back DEI initiatives this year.

Gannett also changed references to “diversity” on its corporate site. A quote from CEO Mike Reed that read “If we don’t have an inclusive and diverse culture, we’ll fail at everything else” was swapped out for the word salad “We embrace a culture where each individual’s unique perspective unlocks our collective potential, empowering an environment where everyone can thrive and make a difference.”

Gannett had most recently published a demographic report in 2024, for the year 2023. The four reports it released are here.

Gannett was not the only news company to make DEI-related promises in 2020. Hanaa’ is working on a story about what’s come of those promises: Do you know of newsrooms that have or have not followed through on them? You can share tips or ideas with her via email or on Signal @hanaatameez.01.