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ASNE Ends Disclosures of Diversity at Individual News Outlets

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Practice Told Who Was Naughty and Nice

. . . NABJ President: No Win for Diversity

. . . Hollywood Percentages Unchanged Since ’07

U.S. Suspends Dakota Pipeline Construction

Harris-Perry, ‘Media Polygamist,’ Is Undefeated

Geraldo Regrets Defending Roger Ailes

Reporter on Melania Trump Scoop Lands Job

Team to Report Who Votes, Who’s Rebuffed

Short Takes

The American Society of News Editors created “Emerging Leadership Institutes” such as this one held in June at Loyola University in Chicago to increase diversity in newsroom management. (Credit: Ralph Braseth, Loyola University Chicago School of Communication)

Practice Told Who Was Naughty and Nice

The American Society of News Editors has ended its longstanding practice of listing the number of journalists of color at individual news organizations, a tool in measuring each news outlet’s progress on diversity, Adam Maksl, who has directed ASNE’s annual diversity survey for the past four years, told Journal-isms Friday night.

“We will be posting a list of the 700 plus participating organizations but not their individual data because we received requests not to make their specific information public,” ASNE Executive Director Teri Hayt said in an email Saturday morning.

Hayt said “a handful” of organizations made such requests and that the decision to  end the practice “was not a board decision but an executive team decision.”

ASNE President Pam Fine said by email on Saturday, “We wanted to collect and share as much information as possible. We don’t like agreeing to withhold information but felt the greater good was to use information from as many outlets as we could. ”

Maksl,Hayt and Fine were responding to inquiries from Journal-isms about the 2016 edition of the diversity survey, released Friday.

“Minority journalists comprised 17 percent of the workforce in newsrooms that responded to this year’s ASNE Diversity Survey,” an announcement began.

“The annual survey also found that 28 percent of the news organizations reported having at least one minority journalist among their top three editors and 77 percent reported having at least one woman in a top-three position.

“The results summarize responses from 737 news organizations, including 646 newspapers and 91 digital-only news sites.

“Year over year comparisons to 2015 results are difficult to make because last year’s survey drew responses from fewer sites. However, a comparison of 433 news organizations that participated in both the 2015 and 2016 surveys showed the minority workforce increased 5.6 percent.

“That gain appears to be driven by large-circulation newspapers and online-only sites, said Adam Maksl, an assistant professor at Indiana University Southeast, who has directed the survey for the past four years. . . .”

Accompanying tables showed whites to be 83.06 percent of the newsroom workforce; blacks, 5.33 percent; Hispanics, 5.44 percent; American Indians, 0.39 percent; Asians, 4.25 percent; Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, 0.14 percent; and others, 1.38 percent.

ASNE has set a goal of matching the percentage of journalists of color in newsrooms with the percentage of people of color in the nation.

In census figures for 2010, Hispanics or Latinos were 16.3 percent of the U.S. population; blacks or African Americans were 12.6 percent; Asians 4.8 percent; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders 0.2 percent; and Native Americans or Alaska Natives 0.9 percent. The census counted 6.2 percent as “some other race” and 2.9 percent as two or more races.

In a statement accompanying the results, Fine listed inspiring young people to become journalists as one solution to the low numbers. “The numbers seem to be moving in the right direction, but the pace of diversity needs to quicken to catch up with the population,” she said.

“We must ask ourselves how we can do a better job of inspiring people of color and women to go into the profession, hire them at good wages, and give them opportunities to influence coverage and advance through the ranks. The purpose of the ASNE survey is to stimulate these efforts. It’s one of the ways ASNE champions diversity in newsrooms and in leadership.”

Another ASNE table identified the percentage of newsroom leaders who are journalists of color as 13.03 percent. That represents 19.41 percent of the journalists of color. The table showed that 22.29 percent of blacks were leaders, as were 19.33 percent of Hispanics; 27.24 percent of American Indians; 18.17 percent of Asians; 8 percent of Native Hawaiians; and 11.16 percent of “other minorities.”

Duchesne Drew, community network vice president at the Bush Foundation, was managing editor for operations at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis from 2009 until he left last December.

 

ASNE wrote, “In 2012, the ASNE Diversity Committee created the Minority Leadership Institute to train and develop up-and-coming, mid-level newsroom leaders and connect them with a network of established ASNE leaders. This year, ASNE rebranded the program as the Emerging Leaders Institute to include all emerging leaders with diverse backgrounds. ASNE has hosted 12 institutes since the first one in 2012.”

Another Emerging Leaders Institute is scheduled Saturday and Sunday at the 2016 ASNE annual conference with Associated Press Media Editors in Philadelphia.

The decision not to disclose figures at individual news organizations was not announced in the ASNE statement.

The practice goes back at least to 1997, the earliest year for which figures are available on the ASNE website. The figures enabled jobseekers and others to tell which news organizations were most diversity friendly. The first census took place in 1978.

“Editors participating in the survey agree to have the percentage of their minority newsroom employees published by ASNE,” the organization said in announcing its 2015 results. “In 2006, the ASNE Board of Directors also agreed to list the percentage for each minority group at each newspaper. A list of newspapers with their percentages is available here.”

That year, one could see that these newspapers far exceeded the average: the Alexander City (Ala.) Outlook, at 42.9 percent journalists of color; Madera (Calif.) Tribune, 44.4 percent; Redlands (Calif.) Daily Facts, 66.7 percent; the Miami Herald, 41.7 percent; the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 60.6 percent; the St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune, Franklin, La., 50 percent; the Lexington (Mass.) Minuteman, 50 percent; the Press Register, Clarksdale, Miss., 42.9 percent; the Kirksville (Mo.) Daily Express, 66.7 percent.

Also, the Alamogordo (N.M.) Daily News, 80 percent; Deming (N.M.) Headlight, 100 percent; The Independent, Gallup, N.M., 52.4 percent; the Alice (Texas) Echo-News, 75 percent; Al Día, the Dallas Morning News, 92.9 percent; El Paso Times, 69.8 percent; Fort Bend Herald and Texas Coaster, Rosenberg, Texas, 43.8 percent; San Angelo (Texas) Standard Times, 44.4 percent; and the Lincoln Hub of Lee Enterprises, 42.9 percent.

The figures also showed which news outlets had no diversity.

. . . NABJ President: No Win for Diversity

Sarah Glover, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, emailed Journal-isms this statement about the diversity survey results on Saturday:

“I do not consider the ASNE survey results a win for diversity. There have been significant departures of black journalists from top leadership positions in the last year, such as the loss of Greg Moore as editor of The Denver Post. Reversing the net loss for black journalists at the highest levels of leadership at newspapers remains stagnant. NABJ is also concerned with the pay disparity experienced by minorities at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Washington Post.

“This isn’t a time for the news industry to pat itself on the back with a 5.6 percent increase in minorities working at 433 specific news organizations from 2015 to 2016. With only 17 percent of the workforce being minority in the news organizations surveyed, the numbers just do not show the progress that’s needed in 2016, considering the national population is 30 percent black and Latino.

“U.S. newsrooms must do better. Diversity should be a top priority in managerial roles and particularly in digital jobs where there may be growth opportunities inside newsrooms.”

[Brandon Benavides, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, replied by email on Sept. 11, “While it is good that the minority workforce in newsrooms continues to rise, we would like to see more Latinos in the newsrooms and in management roles. Only 28% of news organizations are reporting to have at least one minority journalist among their top three editors.

[“It is important looking at recent research to be aware of where we need to put our efforts. This comes down to continuing to advocate and provide education and knowledge on the value of media diversity. Our staff & association will continue to increase partnerships across the U.S. to further inform all newsrooms on this as a priority.”] [Updated Sept. 11]

(From “Inequality in 800 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity” via AsAmNews)

. . . Hollywood Percentages Unchanged Since ’07

“How far has Hollywood advanced on the big screen when it comes to diversity?,” Louis Chan asked Wednesday for AsAmNews.

“A new report released this morning by The Media, Diversity, & Social Change (MDSC) Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism shows it’s stuck in neutral.

“An overwhelming 73.7 percent of all characters in Hollywood in 2015 were White. Only 3.9 percent were Asian. 49 films had no Asian speaking characters at all. Not one lead or co-lead went to an Asian actor.

“12.2% of the roles went to Blacks, 5.3% to Hispanics. Those percentages are virtually unchanged since 2007.

“The statistics for the report were compiled from the top 100 grossing films of 2015. The report has been compiled since 2007, excluding 2011. . . .”

The New York Times produced a video to accompany Friday’s pipeline story.

U.S. Suspends Dakota Pipeline Construction

“The federal government on Friday temporarily blocked construction on part of a North Dakota oil pipeline, an unusual intervention in a prairie battle that has drawn thousands of Native Americans and activists to camp and demonstrate,” Jack Healy and John Schwartz reported Friday for the New York Times.

It was the second consecutive day that the Times displayed the pipeline story on its front page. The Washington Post did as well on Thursday.

As reported Wednesday, the big U.S. broadcast television networks all but ignored the pipeline story for months, though interest picked up after the demonstration led to dogs being sicced on the Native demonstrators last weekend. The “CBS Evening News” followed through on a pledge to deliver a story on Thursday, and NBC News and ABC News carried stories on their websites, though there was no on-air story on Friday’s “NBC Nightly News” or ABC’s “World News Tonight.”

“The broadcast news networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — have aired exactly one report on the Dakota Access Pipeline protests since the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe began an encampment against the project in April, according to a search of the Nexis news database,” Jim Naureckas wrote Wednesday for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting.

In another development, Stefano Esposito reported for the Chicago Sun-Times that “Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein said during a stop Friday in the city that she plans to return to North Dakota, where a warrant has been issued for her arrest after she allegedly spray-painted a message on a bulldozer to protest a pipeline project. . . .”

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe called the federal order “a game changer,” Healy and Schwartz reported.

Amy Sisk of Prarie Public Radio told NPR on Saturday, “This is a monumental moment for Indians throughout the United States.”

Harris-Perry, ‘Media Polygamist,’ Is Undefeated

Melissa Harris-Perry

Melissa Harris-Perry is joining the Undefeated, Kevin Merida, editor-in-chief of the ESPN site on the intersection of sports, culture and race, announced on Thursday.

“She will write commentary for us, conduct interviews of prominent sports and cultural figures you’ll want to hear from, and just flex her brilliance in other ways. Here’s her debut piece on Ava DuVernay’s ‘Queen Sugar’ series,” Merida wrote.

Since leaving MSNBC in February, Harris-Perry joined Elle.com in April as editor-at-large and BET in July as a special correspondent.

“All three [jobs] are in place,” Harris-Perry told Journal-isms by email on Friday.

“MHP, apparently a media polygamist, is enjoying finding multiple outlets for her public voice. Wink.”

Geraldo Regrets Defending Roger Ailes

“In the first few days after Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against Roger Ailes, more than a dozen Fox News anchors went public with their support for Ailes,” Chris Ariens wrote Thursday for TVNewser. “Now one of them is regretting it.

“In a Facebook story posted tonight, Geraldo Rivera writes, ‘The man we knew as the blustering genius who invented our mighty Fox News Channel is a deceitful, selfish misogynist, if the charges against him are true. And if they are true, then his shame and banishment are well earned.’ . . .”

Ariens also wrote, “Rivera found out Tuesday that HarperCollins, a sister company of Fox News, was not going ahead with the publication of his memoir Geraldo of Arabia, From Tora Bora to Trump, ‘because of my uninformed support of Mr. Ailes, and the relatively flattering portrayal of him in an early manuscript.’ . . . ”

Among other journalists of color at Fox News, Harris Faulkner, who hosts “Outnumbered,” has said she had not been told not to wear pants, as others have reported about the environment at the network. “Faulkner was keen to point out that she has always been taken very seriously at FNC,” Lindsey Ellefson wrote for Mediaite on July 11.

Reporter on Melania Trump Scoop Lands Job

Jarrett Hill

“The laid off TV-reporter who sent social media into a frenzy when he exposed Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention to be a plagiarized version of Michelle Obama’s remarks at the 2008 DNC is now rejoicing in glory after landing a job with the Hollywood Reporter,” Alex Titus reported Friday for NBCBLK.

“Since Jarrett Hill’s groundbreaking revelation, the fearless journalist and Clark Atlanta graduate has garnered national acclaim from top media personalities and executives crediting him for reinforcing elements of journalistic integrity that have kept all of his fellow colleagues on their P’s and Q’s.

“Jarrett talked with NBCBLK about his new gig, returning to his podcast and the exact moments in which he sensed that Melania’s speech was a carbon copy. . . .”

Team to Report Who Votes, Who’s Rebuffed

“WNYC, ProPublica, Google News Lab and a broad coalition of news organizations announced Thursday a reporting initiative to track and report on voter experiences throughout the U.S. in the upcoming election,” Tyler Falk reported Friday for current.org.

“ ‘Most newsrooms in America are asking an important but premature question while polls are open: “Who’s winning?” ‘ said Scott Klein, ProPublica deputy managing editor and the project’s leader, in a press release. ‘Electionland is an experiment that asks whether we can help empower newsrooms to cover other vitally important questions that day: How is the election itself going? Who’s voting and who’s being turned away?’

“The goal for Electionland is to provide story leads to local reporters that help them stay on top of problems that voters encounter at their local polling places such as long lines, malfunctioning machines, dropped names from voter rolls. The tips will be shared in real time as they occur, not after voting in the Nov. 8 election is complete. . . .”

Short Takes

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