Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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On diversity
Pondering diversity as 2000 approaches
As the target date for parity in minority newsroom
employment nears, ASNE is prompted to re-examine its diversity goals
By Loren Ghiglione
Where do we go from here?
For nearly two decades, ASNE has been an industry leader in efforts
to diversify newsroom staffs and news coverage at the nation’s daily newspapers.
In 1978, ASNE adopted what has become known as its Year 2000 Goal: the
diversity of newsroom staffs should approximate the nation’s diversity
by 2000 or sooner.
With only two-and-a-half years to the year 2000, ASNE’s 1997 newsroom
employment survey indicates that the staffs of the nation’s daily newspapers
are just over 11 percent minority, while minorities now account for about
25 percent of the U.S. population. (See "Minorities steady in shrinking
work force," TAE, March-May 1997.)
We have begun to assess our efforts in diversity and lay out some ideas
for the next century. ASNE Vice President, Edward Seaton, asked me to prepare
a report on a proposed diversity course for the 21st century.
We want to elicit comments from ASNE members and the broader journalism
community. Comments are welcome on all aspects of newsroom diversity. However,
ASNE is seeking specific input on the following questions:
-
Which of ASNE’s diversity efforts that you’re familiar with deserve support
— and which do not? What should ASNE do that it is not doing?
-
Should ASNE have a goal beyond 2000? If so, what should the goal be? Should
it be a specific numerical goal (If so, what?), or a more general goal?
-
The term "minorities" has been defined as African Americans, Asian Americans,
Hispanics and Native Americans. Should ASNE define that word in a different
way — or adopt a new notion of what constitutes diversity — beyond 2000?
If you are interested in commenting on newsroom diversity beyond 2000,
please write your thoughts down and send them to me. I welcome them.
Help ASNE find our new direction toward newsroom diversity.
Loren Ghiglione, Director, Journalism Program, Room S414 Callaway
Center, Emory University, Atlanta GA 30322; fax 404/727-2370, e-mail lghigli@emory.edu.
Ghiglione, a past president of ASNE, is the director of the journalism
program at Emory University in Atlanta.
