Last Updated: October 18, 2000
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A note from
the president
The long haul to diversity in the newsroom
By Richard A. Oppel
As the 25th convention of the National Association of Black Journalists
opened in Phoenix, we gathered to address the topic of “Industry and Action,”
a rather delicate way of asking, “When will the representation of African
Americans in newsrooms get off dead center?”
I had the pleasure of representing ASNE on a panel.
The questions were not unfriendly, but they revealed distress, impatience
and even a little anger. Why were there fewer African Americans in our
newsrooms? Why aren’t more blacks in leadership? We see the black women,
but where are the black men?
Some queries reflected misinformation. While there is little to brag
about in the 2000 ASNE census, the number of blacks actually went up, from
2,953 to 2,984 — or by 31 people. Because the total newsroom population
increased by more than 1,000, the percentage of blacks dropped, from 5.36
to 5.31.
This occurred as both the raw numbers and percentages of Asians, Hispanics
and Native Americans increased, however small those gains were.
So, what do you say if you’re an editor?
Here is some of what I’ve said:
First, admit that we’ve failed as an industry. In 1978, we vowed to
achieve parity with the nation’s population in overall minority representation
in the newsroom. But for more than a decade, we remained essentially 15
percentage points behind the minority count in an increasingly diverse
nation.
Second, understand that we’re in this for the long haul, through success
and failure. I will retire before our industry achieves the goal. It would
not surprise me if my son and daughter retire before the goal is met. But
the effort must go on in every newsroom.
Third, high-impact initiatives are under way. With the help of the Freedom
Forum, we are engaged in an effort to put 50 new minorities into the newsroom
this year (in addition to the 550 that normally enter our profession).
With the help of the Knight Foundation, we are engaged in an effort to
restore and start high school newspapers and to support journalism teachers
— a task that should help young people of color, especially in urban high
schools, to enter the newspaper industry.
Fourth, we must look more closely at newsroom culture, pay, working
conditions, training and supervision, all areas that affect retention.
Charlotte Hall, managing editor of Newsday, is leading our Diversity Committee
in an examination of retention.
Fifth, we must stop thinking in terms of minorities and instead see
a nation and a profession that is pluralistic in every way. This is all
about people and “us,” not about numbers and “them.”
Sixth, there is so much room for hope, optimism and the joy of engagement
in a good fight. In this world, what nation has ever made more social progress?
In this nation, what profession has ever struggled harder to achieve a
truly pluralistic work force?
I feared at one point the NABJ leadership, reacting to the ASNE census,
might call for giving up on the newspaper industry. To his great credit,
NABJ President Will Sutton has led his organization to address diversity
on copy desks and in photojournalism and graphics. He has secured the assistance
of the Scripps Howard Foundation.
We have the ability to address deeply rooted racial and ethnic problems
in our society. Look at your local schools, I urged the African American
journalists. Are predominantly minority schools favored with the same financial
support, staffing and political backing as schools with Anglo majorities?
Are the streets as safe in the neighborhoods where young African Americans
live as the neighborhoods in which white youngsters live?
W.E.B. Dubois, the great black scholar and author, wrote many years
ago about the responsibilities of “the Talented Tenth” of American Negroes
who had a moral responsibility to help those who lingered behind. Today,
many of “the Talented Tenth” — or Talented Fifth, Third, etc. — are in
our newsrooms. And they do not stand alone.
The editors I know best, ASNE members, fervently want to see more rapid
progress. They work hard at it, and most believe the challenges to progress
are broad and pervasive. All journalists — editors and reporters, Anglos
and people of color — are bound by a dedication to hold up a mirror to
our readers, to depict accurately the conditions that exist and to help
people make intelligent decisions in a democracy.
In April 1995, Gregory Favre said this: “Our responsibility is
to make sure that the background and cultural differences of all people
will be recognized and that everyone can have an opportunity to be heard,
that no one will be excluded inside our buildings or outside in our cities,
especially as the long white line grows against affirmative action. Our
responsibility is to deal with the apathy, hypocrisy, cynicism and the
meanness that exists in our streets and, sadly, in some of our newsrooms.”
True then, true today.
Oppel, ASNE president, is editor of the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman.
