Last Updated: February 03, 2000
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A note from the president
It’s time to count heads.
That’s a refrain we’re hearing a lot these days, as the U.S. Census
Bureau pleads for our cooperation in the 2000 census.
It’s time for ASNE to count heads, too. We’ll be tallying our annual
newsroom census in time to report its numbers at the April convention.
Unfortunately, not all editors participate in our census. That forces
us to do some extrapolation to come up with a report that accurately reflects
the composition of America’s newspaper newsrooms. While the main focus
of the census is to measure ethnic and gender diversity in newsrooms, it
does so in the context of total employment, which is an important measure
in itself.
I’m hopeful our 2000 census will have more participation. I remind myself
regularly that ASNE is an association of editors, not newspapers. And not
all newspapers have members of ASNE. Still, I’m puzzled about the unwillingness
of editors to share their numbers and help us tell a more complete story.
The census will become even more important now that the ASNE board has
adopted a set of benchmarks to measure progress toward our goal of having
newsrooms reach parity with the minority population of the United States
by 2025.
As a reminder, here’s what we reported from the 1999 census: “The number
of minority journalists working at daily newspapers crept up only slightly
in 1998, increasing 1.5 percent. Asian, black, Hispanic and Native American
journalists now comprise 11.55 percent of newsroom employees, compared
to 11.46 percent the previous year, according to the 1999 newsroom employment
survey issued by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. In that same
study, ASNE counted women for the first time and found that they comprise
36.88 percent of the newsroom staffs of daily papers. Some 34 percent of
newsroom supervisors are women.”
Our survey showed that contrary to what some critics would have us believe,
newspaper newsroom employment is not declining. Our newsroom work forces
grew to 55,100 in 1998, up from 54,700. That’s 400 more jobs created.
From my perspective, the worst news came in the reporting of the
numbers on internships and first-time hires. While the actual number of
minority interns and first-time hires basically remained unchanged, the
overall percentages declined. Of the interns hired in 1998, 31.3 percent
were minorities, compared to 33.3 percent the previous year. The highest
proportion of interns was in 1991, at 39.6 percent. The percentage of first-time
full-time hires who are minorities fell to 18.7 from 21.5 percent the previous
year.
All of this leads me to reflect on the benchmarks that the board adopted
at its fall meeting in Colorado Springs. Again, a reminder of what they
are:
-
increasing overall newsroom minority employment
-
increasing the number of minority interns
-
increasing the number of minority supervisors
-
reducing the number of newspapers with no minorities on staff, and
-
measuring whether newspapers have achieved parity with their communities
We will report the numbers in these five areas because we think they best
help us measure progress. Where we are not doing well, we can concentrate
our efforts and engage our colleagues in the newspaper business industry
to help move us all forward.
We’ll clearly be able to measure the effectiveness of our diversity
programs through these benchmarks.
One of the reasons I think the benchmarks are so critical is how they
will hold us accountable along the way. As we reach 2000 and know that
most of our newsrooms don’t reflect the diversity of the communities we’re
trying to serve — and that as a whole, our newsrooms don’t come close to
matching the minority population of the United States — 28.4 percent
— we hear a lot of criticism of ASNE.
We didn’t fail to reach our 2000 goal by our actions in 1998 or 1999.
We failed because we didn’t make strong enough progress each and every
year of the past 22.
I certainly am energized by the work of Wanda Lloyd, our diversity chair
for this year, by her colleagues on the committee, by the ASNE staff and
my fellow officers and board members. Adopting the benchmarks is an important
move.
I also am encouraged by the broad support we have from foundations and
media companies who know how important diversity is to our future. They
are helping us craft proposals for grants to support programs at increasing
the pipeline.
We need to extend our reach to high schools, for example. We can start
with supporting high school journalism programs, and encouraging guidance
counselors to help students explore journalism as a career. We need to
increase the number of minorities we place in internships.
These programs and others will help us make a difference. If we’re going
to improve our credibility, we need diverse newsrooms. If we’re going to
expand our audience, we need diverse newsrooms. If we’re going to help
build the communities we serve, we must better reflect what they look like
and how they think.
Our census and thus our benchmarks will show our progress. That’s
why it is important that we all count heads.
Anderson, ASNE president, is publisher and CEO of The Orange County
Register, Santa Ana, Calif.
