Published Wednesday, April 4, 2001
Editors ponder ways to improve minority retention in newsrooms
Survey shows 698 journalists of color left in 2000
BY KRISSAH WILLIAMS
ASNE Reporter
The newspaper industry believes it knows how to recruit minorities.
Holding on to them is the problem.
Editors reacted to ASNE’s 2001 Newsroom Employment Survey, which showed increases, both in the number of minorities entering the business and leaving it. Editors concluded that retention is the key.
“All newspaper leaders are concerned that their colleagues who are minorities are leaving the business in such large numbers,” said Carolina Garcia, managing editor of the San Antonio Express-News and incoming chair of the ASNE Diversity Committee. “If we’ve created a culture in newsrooms that is not inviting, then we need to know that.”
Last year, nearly 600 minorities entered the field, and 698 decided to leave. The total number of minority journalists dropped despite the fact that newsrooms hired more first-time journalists of color in 2000 than any time in the past 10 years.
Attending minority job fairs, networking with organizations and recruiting at colleges with large minority communities has brought more journalists of color into the newsroom, but these actions have not kept them there.
“It’s hand-in-hand. Whatever retention issues we help solve will benefit all of the folks who are there and the new people who are brought in,” said Ms. Garcia.
To combat the problem, the ASNE Diversity Committee will focus on retention this year, Ms. Garcia said. The first step will be to conduct an in-depth survey to find out who is leaving and to determine whether certain actions by managers create a working environment less conducive to minorities.
The study will include both number crunching and personal interviews with people of color who have left the industry.
Last year, ASNE created an annual retention benchmark and focused this year’s convention diversity program on retention, but editors acknowledge that losing 698 minority journalists is unacceptable. The decline will increase their commitment, they said.
“While these numbers are very disappointing to us, they need to energize us to move forward and to move ahead,” said Charlotte Hall, outgoing chair of the ASNE Diversity Committee and managing editor of Newsday in Melville, N.Y. “It has rekindled the energy to keep rolling the stone up the hill. It rolled back on us a little this year.”
Some editors said they have found methods that help keep minorities in their newsrooms. ASNE board member Gregory L. Moore said he has learned that telling minority journalists they have a future at the paper gives them a reason to stick around.
“Newspapers have got to be thinking three to five years down the road for people that they value, and then they need to make a point of telling the person what the plan is,” said Mr. Moore, who is the managing editor of The Boston Globe. “Good intentions are great, but if the person doesn’t know, they are likely to be frustrated and walk.”
Others said staff development, the chance to work on big stories, unbiased coverage, creating a welcoming environment and networking with minority journalism organizations can help with retention.
“That’s another way of saying I love you, and I have a future for you,” said David Zeeck, executive editor of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., and ASNE board member – repeating an idea he said he picked up from incoming ASNE President Tim McGuire.
The biggest retention problem appears to be with small newspapers with circulations between 5,000 and 50,000 – where most of the industry exodus occurred.
Wanda Lloyd, executive director of the Institute for Newsroom Diversity and former managing editor of The Greenville (S.C.) News, said already having minorities in the newsroom is a good way to recruit and retain people of color.
“One of the best tools was using myself as an example,” Ms. Lloyd said. “It helps to have someone like me in a position to recruit and talk to someone. Many times when you walk in the door of a newsroom and you see someone that looks like you, you say ‘Oh, I think I can be comfortable here.’ ”
She said knowing the community and being able to help potential employees find churches, minority groups, social activities and even hair stylists helps to keep minorities in smaller communities.
ASNE Treasurer-elect Karla Garrett Harshaw, editor of the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, said community newspapers should expect turnover, but recruiting at area colleges and hiring students who are not journalism majors helps to add diversity to staffs.
Ms. Harshaw acknowledged the draw larger newspapers can have on ambitious minority journalists.
“It becomes hard for us to compete against an opportunity like that, and I’m not even sure that we should,” Ms. Harshaw said. “Realize that turnover is a part of life in community papers. There is a tendency for people to have an allegiance to, if not their community, then their region. If you can attract them, there may be a better chance of keeping them longer.”
ASNE and other journalism organizations have already begun to implement some programs aimed at retaining minority journalists. For example, ASNE has partnered with the Associated Press Managing Editors and the Freedom Forum to form the ASNE/APME Fellows program, which will send up to 50 minority journalists to small newspapers and augment their salaries.
The Freedom Forum also houses the Institute for Newsroom Diversity, which will groom minorities currently in other jobs for careers in journalism, and the Chips Quinn Scholars program, which places minority college students in paid internships and awards them scholarships.
But the newspapers first must decide to use the programs. The economy often is a factor.
“There is a desire to work with some of the programs. Some of the newspapers are having a hard time paying the salaries of some of the people we send them,” said Ms. Lloyd.
Mr. Moore also foresees negative effects of the current economic downturn, affecting editors striving to diversify their staffs.
“I don’t think people will be moving around as much, so there won’t be as many openings, and there are all kinds of hiring freezes,” he said. “In fact, some newspapers are decreasing their staffs. It’s going to be very difficult.”
