ASNE Figures Show Barest Increase in Diversity
“Newsrooms at U.S. daily newspapers collectively improved their diversity by nearly a half of one percentage point in 2003, but the growth to 12.94 percent lagged behind the 31.7 percent minorities in the U.S. population,” according to the latest newsroom census of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, released today.
“The overall number of professionals working declined by about 500 journalists. Current newsroom employment is an estimated 54,200.
“All minority groups increased their overall numbers,” a news release says.
In their reactions:
- The National Association of Black Journalists said it was alarmed that fewer black journalists were working as supervisors and “called on top editors to take advantage of NABJ?s growing census of members ready for key decision-making positions.”
?It?s pitiful that we continue to measure progress ?- or actually the lack of progress -? in terms of plus .04 percent or .09 percent a year, when what we really need to see are spikes of 3 percent or 4 percent,? NABJ President Herbert Lowe said in a news release.
- The Asian American Journalists Association said that, “While the percentage of Asian Americans in newsrooms has increased slightly during the past year . . . the percentage of Asian Americans in supervisory and management roles continues to lag behind other racial and ethnic groups.
“AAJA also continues to press ASNE to break down its survey data to show how each racial or ethnic group fares at individual newspapers. The more detailed numbers will allow organizations like AAJA to spot trends and help tailor initiatives to papers and regions of the country where more work needs to be done.”
- The National Association of Hispanic Journalists said, “Since those totals include journalists hired last year for two newly-launched Spanish-language dailies, Belo’s Al Dia in Dallas and Knight-Ridder’s Diario La Estrella in Fort Worth, the actual number of net new jobs for Latinos in English-language papers appears to be much smaller. ASNE could not immediately say today how much of the net job gain the Spanish-language dailies represented.
“Furthermore, NAHJ’s analysis of the newsroom census indicates that there was ‘virtual stagnation’ for the nation’s more than 1,400 daily English-language papers when it comes to increasing the numbers of Latinos.. . . This follows a more positive trend in 2002, which saw an increase of 114 new Latino journalists.”
National Association of Black Journalists statement
Asian American Journalists Association statement
National Association of Hispanic Journalists statement
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USA Today Editor Jurgensen Resigns Abruptly
“USA Today Editor Karen Jurgensen resigned late Tuesday, according to a memo from President and Publisher Craig Moon to the newspaper’s staff posted on USAToday.com. Jurgensen was apparently a victim to the fallout over the Jack Kelley scandal that rocked America’s largest newspaper,” as Editor & Publisher reports.
Jurgensen’s action narrows the gap in the reactions to the Kelley and Jayson Blair scandals. Many have commented on the tamer reaction in the case of Kelley, who is white, compared with Blair, who is black, though Kelley’s infractions have been judged more serious.
No heads had rolled after the Kelley affair, which also failed to capture as much media attention. The scandal caused by the discovery of former New York Times reporter Blair’s fabrications eventually led to the resignations of executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd.
Jurgensen, 55, was USA Today’s first female top editor. An editor at the paper told Journal-isms that the staff was notified by e-mail and that Jurgensen was not present.
By contrast, on June 5, 2003, Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. called “a hastily arranged gathering in the newsroom on the third floor” at which Raines and Boyd announced their resignations “before dozens of reporters, editors, photographers and other newsroom staff members, many of whom sobbed audibly,” according to an account by Times reporter Jacques Steinberg.
In the reaction to the USA Today development, “Tom Squitieri, a reporter who covers the military and foreign affairs, expressed regret only that Ms. Jurgensen had chosen to step aside before those editors who had more directly supervised Mr. Kelley,” Steinberg reports in a story for Wednesday’s New York Times.
“‘The editor least responsible for what happened is the one who has been forced to go,’ said Mr. Squitieri, who has worked at the newspaper since 1989. ‘I and several of my colleagues are waiting to see if others will follow her lead.’
“In a recent interview, Debbie Howlett, the Chicago bureau chief, echoed other reporters at the paper in suggesting that among those who oversaw Mr. Kelley’s career most directly was Hal Ritter, the managing editor for news for the last decade.
“Mr. Ritter did not immediately return a message on Tuesday evening,” Steinberg reported.