Figures Are Brighter at Papers’ Online Operations
“The percentage of minority journalists working in America’s daily newsrooms declined slightly to 13.62 percent this year, according to the ASNE annual newsroom census,” the American Society of Newspaper Editors reported on Tuesday.
“This year ASNE counted full-time journalists working online for the first time to reflect the industry emphasis on expanding its Web presence. Including online-only journalists helped the minority numbers. This year’s annual census found nearly 2,000 full-time journalists working only on their newspapers’ Web sites. Of those, nearly 16 percent are minorities.
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“The good news in the online operations doesn’t outweigh the bad news in these numbers,’ said Dave Zeeck, ASNE president. ‘And the fact that the only two years diversity numbers have gone down were also the two toughest economic years for newspapers in recent memory only means we need to redouble our efforts.'”
“We have to remember that diversity isn’t just about numbers, it’s about making our news reports better. Diverse staffs lead to better journalism,” Zeeck was quoted as saying.
“The drop in the percentage of minorities in newsrooms is very disappointing when you realize how the demographics of so many local communities – and of the nation – are changing so dramatically,” said ASNE Diversity Committee chair Phil Currie of the Gannett Co.
Among the findings:
- “Although the number of minorities increased, their percentage decreased from 13.87 percent. This is the second time since ASNE started the annual survey in 1978 that the percentage of minorities has declined. The first decline occurred in 2001. The census also found about 115 full-time journalists working on Web sites whose staffs are totally separate from their print newsroom.
- “Newspapers with no minorities: 392 newspapers had no minorities on their full-time staff. This is an increase from last year when 377 daily newspapers had no full-time minority journalists. The majority of these newspapers have circulations of 10,000 or less.
- “Internships: The percentage of minority interns stands at nearly 27 percent, a number which has continued to fall as newspapers cut back on internships.”
- Overall, there were 3,056 blacks, 2,512 Hispanics, 1,864 Asian Americans and 332 Native Americans, compared with 3,050 blacks, 2,474 Hispanics, 1,768 Asian Americans and 309 Native Americans in 2006.
In the ASNE Reporter, the convention newspaper, some editors said they were pleasantly surprised that diversity in online news departments was greater than in print newsrooms.
“We felt like online would’ve been lower, much more white and male,” said Janet Weaver, executive editor of the Tampa Tribune and member of the ASNE board. “We thought it would be a deeper problem area.”
Anticipating the dismal results, Unity: Journalists of Color issued a statement on Monday noting the newspaper industry’s failure to make progress on its goal of parity with the percentage of people of color in the general population.
“Common sense dictates that unless there has been a seismic change in the last year of which we were somehow unaware, newspaper newsrooms will have reached barely 43 percent [of] parity with the nation’s Asian American, black, Hispanic and Native American population,” said the statement from Unity President Karen Lincoln Michel.
“In 2006, only 13.87 percent of the newsroom workforce was made up of journalists of color, compared to 13.42 percent the year before and 12.9 percent in 2004. The figures represent an increase of about 0.5 percent every year for the past five years in an America that is 32.8 percent of color and rising.
“‘At this rate of increase,’ UNITY Journalists of Color Inc. said in a statement last year, ‘it will take another 40 years before newsrooms reach parity with the current U.S. population. But in another 40 years, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that people of color will no longer be just a third of the population, they will make up about half the people in the country.'”
- Stacy A. Anderson, ASNE Reporter: Incoming President Bailon will work to transform leaders
- Asian American Journalists Association: AAJA Calls for Newspaper Editors Not to Lose Sight of Diversity Amidst Industry Changes
- National Association of Black Journalists: As Newspaper Hiring Stagnates, NABJ Challenges Newsrooms to Reflect the Real World
- National Association of Hispanic Journalists: NAHJ Disappointed with Decline in Percentage of Journalists of Color in U.S. Newsrooms
- Native American Journalists Association: ASNE: Native journalist numbers up, percentage of minorities at newspapers down
- Dalton Walker, Reznet blog: Survey shows big jump in Native journalists