Last Updated: August 13, 1999
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Small newspapers
Small newspapers face a crisis in hiring: Few are applying
In times of emergency you can’t whisper. And you can’t worry about being
politically correct. You have to get people’s attention. Wake up! We are
in trouble here, and you may be next!
When the Small Newspapers Committee sat down to discuss the need for
recruiting to improve diversity at our papers there was an awkward pause
until a brave soul ventured the statement that he would be happy just to
get a warm body. That statement broke the dam of silence and horror stories
started spilling out. Less than a decade ago, small newspapers filled vacancies
with relative ease. They would cast their net with a few classified ads
and be swamped with applicants. From this applicant pool they would select
the finest young fish the schools had to offer, feed them, nurture them,
teach them to swim through the reefs. Then the sharks from the metro papers
would snatch up the fish with the ability to survive in a bigger pond.
Small newspapers would then dive back into the applicant pool and land
their next catch.
Today, there isn’t an applicant pool. There is a wading pool.
Article after article has been published with large newspapers complaining
that they are hungry for talent. While they may be hungry, small newspapers
are starving. And when the shrimp die, so do the whales.
“This is the first time I can ever remember going through a graduation
season and not getting a pile of resumes,” said Eileen Lehnert, managing
editor of the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot. “In fact, I haven’t gotten
one.
“I’ve got a copy editing opening, and I can’t even get people to call
me back, even those who have applied,” she said. “It’s an unbelievable
job market right now.”
Cedric Bryant, coordinator of recruiting and placement for Gannett,
was quoted in a May article in Editor & Publisher saying, “We have
more openings and fewer applicants for those openings, not to mention that
we’re seeing jobs stay open longer than they used to. It’s really uncanny.”
Editors at small newspapers say it is not unusual for a reporting or
copy editing position to go unfilled for five to seven months because of
the lack of qualified applicants.
This is not news to editors who participated in the Small Newspapers
Committee survey of concerns from 1996 to 1998. Staff issues topped the
list, and the most pressing concern in that area was recruiting staff.
(This is in the 1998 report, “The Challenges Facing Today’s Small-Newspaper
Editors.”)
What has happened to change the situation from feast to famine? The
good news for the economy seems to be bad news for those seeking to fill
positions. The unemployment rate in May (as colleges and universities were
releasing another batch of graduates) hit its lowest point since February
1970. At 4.2 percent, the tight job market has sent recruiters in all major
businesses scurrying to keep positions filled. You want to meet diversity
goals? The unemployment rate for women hit a 30-year low at 3.6 percent
in May. The unemployment rate for Hispanics was 6.7 percent; blacks hit
a record low of 7.5 percent. This is for the total market. The unemployment
rate for those with college degrees is significantly below this level.
Terry Hynes, journalism dean of the University of Florida, adds an additional
concern. “Another factor from the education side is the journalism enrollments
across the country have been decreasing. So the available pool of college
grads is lower than it might be,’’ she said.
Hynes explained that more students are enrolling in advertising, public
relations and the non-journalism areas of television like production and
operations. There are fewer students interested in newspaper journalism.
And many of the students who do graduate with an interest in journalism
are being snapped up by the hundreds of new magazines, trade publications
and Web sites.
Bob Hilliard, director of student publications at Washington State University,
said that this shift has been occurring for the last 12 to 15 years. Not
only do the graduates have many options, they can decide where they want
to go and then wait for the job they want to open. “The economy is so strong
they can get a job (doing almost anything and it will pay them enough)
at their destination and wait,” Hilliard said. “They are in the driver’s
seat.”
Doyle is editor of the Walla Walla (Wash.) Union-Bulletin and chair
of the 1999-2000 Small Newspapers Committee.
