AP Accepts "African American," "Native American"
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Group’s Second Survey Awards "F" on Gender
A report on the diversity at newspaper sports departments and sports Web sites shows that "in 2008, 94 percent of the sports editors, 89 percent of the assistant sports editors, 88 percent of our columnists, 87 percent of our reporters and 89 percent of our copy editors/designers are white, and those same positions are 94, 90, 94, 91 and 84 percent male."
The survey. released Thursday, is the second performed for the Associated Press Sports Editors by Richard Lapchick and his Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
The results confirm that sports departments are slightly whiter than are newspaper newsrooms overall. The latest survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors put journalists of color at 13.52 percent, meaning whites were 86.5 percent. In 2006, ASNE noted, the U.S. was 66 percent white who are not Hispanic and minorities were 34 percent, according to the census bureau.
"The APSE websites and newspapers received a grade of C for racial hiring practices and an F for gender hiring practices in the key positions covered in the 2008 study. Grades were not issued for the 2006 Report Card," a news release said.
"In framing the results, Lapchick asked, ‘Is the coverage of athletes and sports in the media fair and accurate when women and people of color are the subjects of the reporting? Are women and people of color fairly represented on today’s newspaper and dot com sports department staffs? How would a more diverse staff of sports editors, columnists, and reporters affect what is commonly written about in our newspapers? This is the second time the media has turned the mirror on itself. And once again, APSE newspapers saw how little progress they had made regarding representation of women and people of color in their key positions where decisions on what is covered, who covers it and who offers opinions on it are made. I have to credit APSE for having the courage to replicate the study so there will continue to be real transparency.’
". . . Of all the ‘A’ circulation size papers, the Sacramento Bee (CA) totaled the highest percentage of diversity within its sports staff, with 63.2 percent being women or people of color. The Sacramento Bee (CA) also finished first in this category in 2006 at 54 percent. The Honolulu Advertiser (HI) topped the circulation size ‘B’ papers with 91.3 percent of its sports staff being women or people of color. The El Paso Times (TX) led the circulation size ‘C’ papers with 55.6 percent of its sports staff being women or people of color."
Late Thursday, the Association of Women in Sports Media issued this statement:
"The ‘F’ grade is jarring. It’s difficult to stomach, and yet, considering the percentage of women that the study determined are in sports departments, the poor grade is absolutely justified.
"While AWSM is happy to see slight progress being made in some areas, the numbers are not where we ultimately want them to be. We understand that progress can be slow and change can be hard, but it’s difficult to see regression or stagnation in most areas.
"Sports departments need to be held accountable for the diversity of their staffs, and right now, the lack of gender diversity by in large is appalling. The results of the APSE study underscore the continued importance of AWSM. Since the beginning, we have existed to further the pursuits of women in sports media. Work remains, and we intend to continue to see it through."
Among the report’s highlights:
- The percentages of African Americans increased as sports editors, columnists, copy editors and support staff/clerks while decreasing as assistant sports editors and reporters.
- Whites decreased by percentage in all categories covered except assistant sports editors.
- Latinos decreased by percentage in all categories covered except reporters and support staff/clerks.
- Asians increased in all categories except assistant sports editors.
- Women increased as sports editors and copy editors/designers while decreasing as assistant sports editors, reporters and support staff/clerks. The percent of women columnists remained the same though the number increased by eight.
- In 2008, white men and women comprised 87.8 percent of the total staffs of all APSE member newspapers and websites, African Americans held 6.3 percent, Latinos equaled 3.3 percent, Asians totaled 1.9 percent, and "other" people of color held less than 1 percent. In 2006, white men and women comprised 88.4 percent of the total staffs of all APSE member newspapers and Web sites while African Americans held 6.2 percent, Latinos equaled 3.6 percent, Asians totaled 1.3 percent, and "other" people of color held less than one percent.
- In 2008, women made up 11.5 percent of total staffs of APSE member newspapers and websites, less than in 2006 when women made up 12.6 percent of total staffs of APSE member newspapers and websites.
- The percentages of women and people of color serving as sports editors increased slightly since 2006 by 1.5 and 0.6 percentage points, respectively.
- In 2008, 94.1 percent of APSE sports editors were white while 88.3 percent were white males, African Americans held only 2.1 percent, Latinos held 2.4 percent, and Asians and "others" were each less than one percent. There were two Asian sports editors (up from zero in the previous report), while the number of "other" sports editors remained the same at three. In 2006, 94.7 percent of APSE sports editors were white while 90.0 percent were white males; African Americans held only 1.6 percent of APSE sports editors while Latinos held 2.8 percent and "others" totaled for less than 1 percent.
- Sports editors who are women increased to 6.5 percent in 2008 after totaling 5.0 percent in 2006.
- The percentage of columnists who were people of color increased while that of women remained the same.
- Columnists who are African American increased nearly three percentage points from 7.7 in 2006 to 10.6 percent in 2008. The percentage of Latino columnists declined from 1.0 percent to 0.5 percent while the percentage of Asian columnists increased slightly from .67 to .72 percent. The percentage of white columnists dropped slightly from 89.9 to 88.3 percent.
The survey was taken at a time of economic turmoil at newspapers, which has led to buyouts and layoffs, and competition for sportswriting talent from ESPN and Internet outlets. However, buyouts have often led to departures of the longest serving and highest salaried, who are usually while men, creating opportunities to fill those vacancies with women and journalists of color.
Moreover, as reported in this space in January, the diversity at sports Web sites is considered worse than at newspapers.
The report noted that Mike Fannin, a Latino, was the first person of color to be APSE president in 2007. Lynn Hoppes, who is Asian American, is the incoming APSE president, and Garry Howard, an African American, will follow in 2009 as the third person of color to fill the position.
Fannin was the head of the sports and features departments of the Kansas City Star and in May was named the newspaper’s new editor.
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AP Accepts "African American," "Native American"
Two decades after the term "African American" went mainstream, the Associated Press is accepting the hyphenated version of the term as a legitimate phrase for its writers, along with "Native American" to refer to American Indians.
The world’s largest news organization, whose stylebook is considered a bible in most newsrooms and in many professional offices, announced on Thursday that its 2008 print edition "features one of the most comprehensive updates in its history, with more than 200 new entries, ranging from anti-virus to iPhone to WMD.
"Other new entries include anti-spyware, high-definition, outsourcing, podcast, text messaging, social networking, snail mail and Wikipedia and such sports terms as minicamp and wild card.
"Among the outdated words gone from the new spiral-bound Stylebook are barmaid, blue blood, malarkey, milquetoast, Photostat, riffraff and WAC, which is no longer used by the U.S. military but may describe a woman who served in what had been the Women’s Army Corps."
The new entry for "African-American" says:
"African-American – Acceptable for an American black person of African descent. Black is also acceptable. The terms are not necessarily interchangeable. People from Caribbean nations, for example, generally refer to themselves as Caribbean-American. Follow a person’s preference."
The previous rule was, "The preferred term is black. Use African-American only in quotations or the names of organizations or if individuals describe themselves so."
AP Deputy Managing Editor Sally Jacobsen, one of the coeditors of the Stylebook, said through a spokesman:
"As part of our process for updating the Stylebook, we solicited suggestions from staffers in all our bureaus, domestic and international. A number of staffers suggested the change.
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"African-American has become common usage. Our staffers felt we needed to say that African-American was acceptable to give us flexibility to follow individual preferences in reporting and writing. Once we had crafted an entry, we sought comments on the proposed change from our staffers, who supported the revision. African-American is accepted by virtually every other news organization, so there was no sound reason for the Stylebook requirement that ‘black is preferred.’ The same was deemed true of Native American for American Indian."
As recounted here four years ago, "African American" had been in use for at least 20 years among intellectuals, black nationalists and others before the National Alliance of Black School Educators, an organization of school superintendents, called in 1984 for use of the term, in part to emphasize ties with an ancestral land mass. On Dec. 19, 1988, the term entered the mainstream, as about 75 black leaders met in Chicago to discuss an "African American agenda." Using the term was part of a broad "cultural offensive" led by the National Urban Coalition.
Though the term was intended to be unhyphenated to emphasize the historic rupture with Africa, an AP copy editor inserted it into its story on the meeting so it would conform to AP style on other ethnic groups, and so that rendering remains at many news outlets today.
Ironically, the new AP decision comes as some blacks are wearying of the phrase. "My biggest problem with the term is that [it] distances us from the rest of the diaspora in [a] way that’s not particularly in our interest," Eric Easter wrote this month on ebonyjet.com. Others say the "African" part of the phrase has been silent and it has not strengthened ties between American blacks and Africans, as intended.
Native journalists have called themselves "Native Americans" at least since 1984, when participants met at the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and established the foundation for a national organization that they called the Native American Press Association. Its successor organization is the Native American Journalists Association.
Cristina Azocar, president of NAJA, told Journal-isms she considered that inclusion of the word "American" rendered "Native American" and "American Indian" inaccurate and preferred "Native." But she said, she is pleased that the AP is recognizing that more than one term can apply. Many Natives strongly prefer one term or the other, she said, and the difference is often generational. Older Natives are more used to "American Indian," she said, adding that the most accurate term is the name of the person’s tribe.
- Raymond Arroyo, DiversityInc.: What’s in a Name: Who Is an African American?
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Baltimore Sun to Eliminate 100 Jobs
"The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which publishes The Sun and community newspapers, will eliminate 100 jobs by early August to cut costs and stay competitive, Publisher Timothy E. Ryan told employees yesterday in an e-mail," Lorraine Mirabella reported Thursday in the Sun.
"The company said it plans to reduce the 1,400-person work force through voluntary buyouts, layoffs, attrition and by closing open positions. A majority of the cuts are expected to come from the newsroom.
"Officers of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which represents nearly 400 Sun workers in the news, advertising, circulation, building and finance departments, said yesterday that they were told by Sun management that 55 to 60 jobs would be cut in the newsroom, which would be a reduction of roughly 20 percent."
- San Jose Mercury News: Mercury News to lay off more workers
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Feedback: Words "Native," "Indian" Can Be Tricky
Most older American Indians do not use the term "American Indian" but instead use the single word "Indian." They refer to themselves as "Indian" and seldom use the PC words "Native American."
The word "Indian" is a derivation of the Spanish "Indios," which was shortened from the Spanish "Ninos en Dios," which means "Children of God." In much of South America and Central America the Natives are called "Indios." Since I write a national column on Indian issues, I often receive mail from whites who say, "I was born in America and therefore I am a Native American." They are correct in saying this. The word "Native" by itself can also be misleading. A recent article in a western newspaper was headed with "Native elected to school board." Most readers took it to mean a "Native of the State" although the article meant that an Indian had been elected to the school board.
As a national columnist of Indian descent, I often use the name of the person’s tribe as identification, but I still use "Indian" and "American Indian" interchangeably. When I and the first board of directors of the Native American Journalists Association were looking for a name for that organization, we kicked around names from "Indigenous" to "Indian" but we finally settled on the more common "Native American" in the end.
Tim Giago
Oglala Lakota
June 26, 2008
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Feedback: I Hope Obama Helps Black-Owned Media
As an activist for the upward mobility of the Black race with a strong emphasis on the media, I applaud Barack Obama for having the common sense to know that diverse voices and diverse media ownership will further ensure that America remains a democracy for all.
There are basically five companies that control 85 percent of what Americans see, hear and read – that is a dictatorship of viewpoints and can program Americans to think and behave the way a few people want them to.
As owner of a media company, Elbow Grease Productions, I can say we have worked diligently to build a company by obtaining press credentials to many high-level events and are hard at work trying to create opportunities for another point of view to be heard on race and race relations. We have been the ONLY Black-owned medium credentialed to cover the Michael Jackson trial and have been credentialed to cover many of Obama’s appearances, but we have been declined media access to the Democratic convention.
A deliberate force wants to suffocate Black voices or muffle them on major networks. There is always the air of a threat to conform to mainstream thinking, disabling the First Amendment for too many Black concerns.
I hope Obama is successful in opening up more possibilities for small Black-owned media sources to grow and gain advertising dollars. The number of Black-owned big businesses is declining, forcing Black-owned media to count on White businesses for advertising. They can dictate what is said and what isn’t.
The owner of a newspaper here in Los Angeles told me that when she covers hard-core Black issues, she threatens her own business survival because she will get a call from an advertiser (White-owned) about her content. Black-owned media are caught in a trick bag to either go along with the flow of major media messages or lose those big corporate advertising dollars.
We Blacks have allowed ourselves to become "checked" as in a game of chess, but we are not "checkmated" because we are still here, enabling us to make the necessary changes to empower and grow. All we need is more courage and unity!
Pearl Jr.
Van Nuys, Calif.
June 26, 2008
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View previous columns.
- Diversity’s Greatest Hits, 2007
- For the Journalist’s Bookshelf
- 11 More for the Journalist’s Library
- Five Minutes With Richard Prince (Newspaper Association of America, 2005)
