Last Updated: May 20, 1999
Printer-friendly version
On diversity
ASNE’s 1998 census of newsroom employment in U.S. dailies shows incremental
gains in the employment of minorities in most areas of the newsroom. Minority
journalists comprise 11.46 percent of newsroom employees, compared to 11.35
percent in the previous year.
The newsroom work force, whites and minorities, grew to 54,700 this
year, from 54,000 the previous year. The number of minority journalists
working at the nation’s dailies rose to 6,300, compared to 6,100 in the
previous two years.
This marks the 20th year of ASNE’s annual newsroom employment census,
which tracks overall newsroom employment and the representation of minority
journalists. When the annual census started in 1978, minority journalists
were 4 percent of the total newsroom work force (1,700 of 43,000). The
1998 census is based on employment data reported by daily newspapers as
of Jan. 1.
Over the past two decades, significant growth in the representation
of minority journalists has been achieved, although the yearly gains have
been small. From 1978 to 1998, minority employment has grown 270 percent,
while white employment during the same period has grown 17 percent.
"Newsroom diversity remains a high priority for daily newspapers," said
Sandra M. Rowe, 1997-98 president of ASNE and editor of The Oregonian,
Portland. "ASNE remains strongly committed to fostering newsrooms beyond
2000 that will reflect the changing demographics of this nation."
In 1978, ASNE set the Year 2000 Goal, which challenged newspapers to
achieve diversity in their newsrooms equivalent to the U.S. minority population
by the year 2000 or sooner. Currently, minorities represent about 26 percent
of the total population, according to the U.S. Census. For the past 20
years, ASNE has been an industry leader in newsroom diversity and helping
newspapers to better reflect their communities. The Society sponsors a
variety of initiatives and projects, including job fairs and journalism
short courses.
Looking back over the 20-year period, progress can be highlighted in
key areas:
-
More dailies have integrated newsrooms than in 1978. This year, 58 percent
of newspapers employed minority newsroom professionals, compared to one-third
in 1978.
-
The proportion of minorities working in all job categories in the newsroom
has grown significantly in the past two decades. This year, 9 percent of
newsroom supervisors were minorities, compared to only 1 percent in 1978.
The representation of minority reporters and writers has doubled to 12.5
percent this year, from 6 percent in 1978. Minority copy and layout editors
represented 10.2 percent of the newsroom this year, compared to 3 percent
in 1978. The proportion of minority photographers and graphic artists has
almost tripled, from 5 percent in 1978 to 14.6 percent this year.
-
The 1998 survey indicates that 21.5 percent of journalists hired for their
first full-time jobs in 1997 were minorities. The percentage of minorities
taking their first newsroom jobs was 16.4 percent in 1985, the first year
ASNE collected figures for this category.
Other findings of the 1998 newsroom employment survey are:
Racial/ethnic groups: There are 2,946 black journalists (5.38
percent of the newsroom workforce); 1,889 Hispanic journalists (3.45 percent);
1,178 Asian journalists (2.15 percent), and 256 Native American journalists
(0.47 percent).
Internships: One-third (33.3 percent) of the interns hired in
1997 were minorities, compared to 35 percent the previous year. The highest
proportion of minorities in newspaper internships peaked in 1991 at 39.6
percent.
Circulation categories: While minority journalists still are
concentrated at the larger dailies, the 1998 survey reported a noticeable
decline in the proportion of minority journalists working at newspapers
with circulations over 500,000. The proportion of minority journalists
at newspapers with circulations of 250,000 to 500,000 grew by three percentage
points to 26 percent from 23 percent the previous year.
Job categories: The proportion of minorities who are supervisors
was unchanged at 9 percent this year, compared to 8.9 percent in 1997.
The distribution of whites and minorities in job categories was virtually
the same this year and last year.
Newsrooms with minorities: The percentage of newspapers with
no minority professionals in the newsrooms declined to 42 percent this
year from 43.5 percent in 1996. Thirty-one percent of newspapers under
10,000 circulation employ minorities, compared to 27 percent the previous
year.
Jennings is diversity director for ASNE.
