If you reversed the order of paragraphs 3 and 4 in the article, the extent of the problem would be lost on readers because they would not receive all the data.
This response reflects that if the statistics and data about women's and racial minorities' participation in journalism were presented after discussing broader implications, readers might not grasp the severity of the issue without the context provided by the specific data. The concrete numbers help to illustrate the problem clearly before discussing its broader implications.