ASNE - New institute pushes for diversity by reaching out to non-journalists

Published Thursday, April 5, 2001
New institute pushes for diversity by reaching out to non-journalists

BY CHRISTINA DENARDO
ASNE Reporter

Call it journalist boot camp.

In January, The Freedom Forum will open its doors to 20 students, who are not journalists, at its Vanderbilt University location.

Mid-career professionals, who have left their jobs for the fast-paced world of newspapers, will train intensively, memorizing The Associated Press stylebook and “The Elements of Style.”

They will learn the basics of reporting, writing and editing – at no cost. Then, after 12 weeks, they’ll leave campus and begin working at a daily newspaper.

In an effort to hire – and retain – more minority journalists in America’s newsrooms, The Freedom Forum has created the Institute for Newsroom Diversity, a program to train non-journalism professionals to work at small and medium-size daily newspapers.

The institute will partner with newspaper editors in selecting and training students, a key part of the project, Freedom Forum officials said.

“We have been talking with editors for several years about how to take real concrete actions to improve the number of minorities at newspapers,” said Charles Overby, chairman of the Freedom Forum. “One of the things we will try to do with this institute is train home-grown potential journalists of color.”

The $5 million institute will include classrooms, a lab and library that will look similar to those at traditional journalism schools.

News of the program may rattle some college journalism students who have spent at least four years studying and training for the same thing, without the guarantee of a job.

But the goal isn’t competition, Mr. Overby said, it’s a diverse and better newsroom.

“We do not attempt to say that this is a replacement for journalism school,” said Mr. Overby, who initiated The Freedom Forum’s effort. “We think that it is going to bring in people who otherwise wouldn’t have been in newspapers at all.

According to ASNE’s latest employment survey, the number of minorities at daily newspapers dipped for the first time since the group started tracking numbers in 1978. The number dropped slightly, from 11.85 percent last year to 11.64 percent this year.

In his opening session speech, outgoing ASNE President Richard A. Oppel highlighted the failure of newspapers to retain minority journalists already working for them.

The retention rate for minority journalists declined to 90 percent, down 6 percentage points from last year, the ASNE report said.

The Freedom Forum effort might help combat the factors that tend to cause journalists to head for larger papers or other professions, Mr. Overby said.

Low salaries, the lack of challenging assignments, dissatisfaction with their communities and the lure of big-city metro newspapers draw talented media professionals of all colors away from smaller newspapers, said Wanda Lloyd, the institute’s executive director.
Through this program, Freedom Forum officials said, smaller newspapers can benefit from the life skills of the people living in their community.

As longtime residents, these reporters may be more likely to remain at the newspaper. In addition, editors hope these reporters’ ties to the community and their life experiences will add depth to newsrooms’ coverage.

“We expect a lot of these folks will have the advantage of knowing more about the community and more about life than a 21-year-old right out of college,” said Mr. Overby.

Although the institute will not open its doors to students until January, Ms. Lloyd said she has received numerous inquiries from lawyers, utility workers and military veterans wanting to participate.
The Freedom Forum is accepting applications, and the deadline is in August.

Selected students will receive acceptance letters by the fall.
Last week, the Freedom Forum assembled about a dozen editors from small and large newspapers, seeking their input on the institute project.

“Most of us concluded that the risks would be borne primarily by the folks willing to give up their profession,” said Sherrie Marshall, executive editor of the Macon Telegraph in Georgia, who attended the discussion. “For newspapers, our opportunities are probably greater than our risks.”

Although the idea behind the program is not new, Ms. Marshall said, what she likes about the program is how it connects the students with their hometown newspapers.

In the early 1970s, there were virtually no minorities in the newsroom because editors recruited primarily through journalism schools with low minority representation, said Ms. Lloyd, who taught a similar program through the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in 1972 on Columbia University’s campus. The summer program, created in 1969, later moved to the University of California at Berkeley until 1989.

While editor of The Greenville (S.C.) News, Ms. Lloyd also worked with two graduates of a training school at the University of South Carolina.

“They were just like the rest of us, but they didn’t get a chance to go to journalism school,” Ms. Lloyd said.