Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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ASNE on the move
The board of the American Society of Newspaper Editors adopted a newsroom
diversity mission statement at its fall board meeting in Miami that will
take the U.S. newspaper industry’s diversity efforts beyond 2000.
ASNE President Edward Seaton, editor-in-chief of The Manhattan
(Kan.) Mercury, said, “This mission statement strongly reaffirms
our commitment to having newsrooms that reflect the communities that we
cover.”
The ASNE board also approved adding women to its annual census on newsroom
employment. However, the board stated that the focus of its diversity initiatives
would remain on the hiring and promotion of people of color in the newsroom.
“ASNE’s concern regarding women is focused on management and the glass
ceiling,” Seaton said.
The mission statement says:
To cover communities fully, to carry out their role in a democracy,
and to succeed in the marketplace, the nation’s newsrooms must reflect
the racial diversity of American society by 2025 or sooner. At a minimum,
all newspapers should employ journalists of color and every newspaper should
reflect the diversity of its community.
The newsroom must be a place in which all employees contribute their
full potential, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, age, gender, sexual
orientation, physical ability or other defining characteristic.
The ASNE board said that ASNE will pursue the following strategies,
“which may be expanded or amended periodically”:
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Conduct an annual census of employment of Asian Americans, blacks, Native
Americans, Hispanics, and women in the newsroom.
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Encourage and assist editors in recruiting, hiring and managing diverse
newsrooms.
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Expand ASNE efforts to foster newsroom diversity.
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Establish three-year benchmarks for measuring progress.
Seaton said the ASNE board’s action today signalled the beginning of significant
long-term plans to rejuvenate and accelerate the diversification of the
newsrooms of daily newspapers.
“The commitment we are undertaking to bring change to newsrooms is as
important as the mission we have adopted for the industry,” Seaton said.
“In the end, we will be measured as much for our efforts as for our aspirations.”
The Society will convene three roundtables to bring together editors,
publishers, minority journalists, journalism educators, high school journalism
teachers, media foundation leaders, and others to develop fresh ideas relating
to newsroom diversity, he said.
“These roundtables will explore four areas that ASNE believes will be
crucial to meeting the challenge of newsroom diversity beyond 2000,” Seaton
said. Topics to be discussed include increasing the number of minority
young people going into journalism careers, hiring and recruitment, the
newsroom culture, and retention and promotion of minorities.
ASNE’s mission statement calls for establishing measurable benchmarks
to assess the industry’s progress every three years. According to Seaton,
among the benchmarks under consideration are tracking progress in the following
areas:
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Increasing the number of minorities in journalism education/news-editorial
sequences.
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Reducing the number of newspapers that employ no minorities.
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Reducing turnover among minorities in newsrooms.
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Increasing minority scholarships and internships.
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Increasing the number of newsrooms that have diversity plans.
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Developing innovative programs that identify and support minority young
people interested in journalism careers.
ASNE adopted a well-known goal in 1978, which challenged the industry to
achieve racial parity by 2000 or sooner. According to ASNE’s annual newsroom
census, conducted at the beginning of 1998, minority journalists comprise
11.46 percent of the professional newsroom work force. Minorities currently
account for 26 percent of the total U.S. population.
ASNE’s Web site includes frequently asked questions about the mission
statement on newsroom diversity, ASNE’s diversity initiatives, and practical
information about newsroom jobs, tips on planning one’s college career,
and projects editors have developed to promote newsroom diversity. Find
it at http://www.asne.org/kiosk/diversity/divdetl.htm.
