| A snapshot of a newsroom today would probably
capture more graying heads and reading glasses than fresh young faces.
Nearly half of the workforce are now over 40, and the percentage of journalists
30 and under has shrunk. Nine out of 10 are college graduates, a majority
have journalism degrees. Almost half worked as newspaper interns while
they were in college.
The basic demographic composition of America's newsrooms has not changed
significantly in the last eight years: The typical newspaper journalist
is still a liberal, college-educated, white-male baby boomer. The survey
revealed some subtle changes, however, that suggest important implications,
as well as information about issues that had not been explored in previous
ASNE research.
This section focuses on the age, gender and social composition of the
workforce. It also looks at journalists' families and family income, their
education, their community ties, their reasons for choosing journalism
as a career, and assessments of their personal lives.
Getting Older
There are fewer young people in the newsrooms in the '90s. The proportion
of journalists 30 and under has shrunk significantly, from 29 percent in
1988 to 20 percent last year. And the percentage of thirtysomethings has
likewise dropped, from 44 percent in 1988 to 37 percent in 1996. These
changes could be explained by two major factors, one demographic and one
economic. Most of the baby-boom generation, the most populous group in
American society, has moved into mid-career. Also, the early '90s were
a period of contraction in the newspaper workforce, so it's likely that
new hires (who tend to be young people) have been less common in the '90s.
The percentage of journalists in their 40s, meanwhile, more than doubled
between the two surveys: from 15 percent of the workforce to 32 percent.
As one might expect, reporters are younger than those in other work
categories, and editorial writers are more likely to be older.
Newsroom supervisors are concentrated in the 31-50 age bracket, and
the over-50s are no more likely to be supervisors than the 31-50-year-olds.
Photographers and artists also tend to be concentrated in the 31-50 age
bracket.
Although their numbers are shrinking overall, the youngest age groups
are becoming more female and more racially diverse. Fifty percent of the
journalists 30 and under are women.
All minority groups have higher representation in the younger age brackets,
but Asian Americans are leading this trend: About half the Asian Americans
in newspaper journalism are 30 or under. Hispanics and blacks are more
heavily concentrated in a slightly older ''young'' group: 25 to 40 years
old. The over-50 group is the least diverse: 78 percent male and 99 percent
white.
Gender and Minority Basics
The percentage of women in the newsroom is rising incrementally, if
at all. It was 35 percent in 1988 and 37 percent in the 1996 survey (and
because of a 3 percent margin of error, a change may not have occurred
at all). The slow growth is surprising in light of the female majorities
in university journalism programs across the country in the 1990s. But
the youngest journalists, as we saw above, are just as likely to be women
as men. And women are not found disproportionately in any one job category.
Even among newsroom supervisors, the percentage of women is nearly as high
as it is overall: 31 percent of the supervisors are female (versus 37 percent
overall). A large part of that discrepancy is explained, again, by the
youth of many of the women.
Minorities' representation continues to lag far behind their proportions
in the national population, but the survey sample suggests an increase
since 1988. Minorities make up 11 percent of the sample (the same percentage
reported in ASNE's annual employment survey for 1996). However, that compares
unfavorably with representation in the national population, which was 26
percent minority in 1994.
As we saw above, minorities tend to be young and, at least among Asian
Americans and blacks, female. More than half of the Asian Americans and
blacks in newsrooms are women (again compared with 37 percent for the overall
workforce). Minorities also tend to follow the overall distribution of
jobs (the exception being the relative scarcity of Hispanic copy editors).
More detailed analyses of the gender and minority data follow in the
''Profiles'' chapter.
Family and Income Characteristics
Not much change occurred in the early '90s in patterns of marital status
among newspaper journalists. As with the labor force nationally, 59 percent
are married, 25 percent are single (never married), 10 percent are divorced,
and 7 percent are living with a significant ''other.'' The women in journalism
are more likely than men to be single, and of course the journalists 30
and under are more likely than their older colleagues to be single. Asian
Americans and blacks are more likely than any ethnic groups, including
whites, to be single.
There are fewer children in the newspaper family, again a function of
the shrinking young segment of the workforce. The percentage of journalists
with children under 6 years old dropped from 20 percent in 1988 to 11 percent
in 1996, while the percentage with children between 6 and 18 held steady
at about 20 percent.
Eighty-six percent of those who are married (or in a long-term relationship)
say their partner works outside the home. And 79 percent of the working
partners work full-time. Men are still more likely than women to say their
partner does not work, as are journalists over 50 years old. Fewer journalists
(57 percent, versus 62 percent eight years ago) report that their income
is larger than their spouse's. For women, for reporters and for journalists
30 and under, making less than one's spouse is the norm.
Politics and Religion
The storied liberalism of America's rank-and-file newspaper workers
held strong over the last eight years, while conservatism crumbled. In
1996 only 15 percent of the newsroom labeled itself conservative/Republican
or leaning in that direction, down from 22 percent in 1988. The greatest
gain is in the ''independent'' column, which rose from 17 percent to 24
percent. Liberal/Democrats and those leaning that way slipped only from
62 to 61 percent.
Political orientation does not vary across job descriptions, except
that editorial writers are more likely to be independent or conservative
than staffers in the newsroom. Women are more likely than men to fall into
one of the liberal/Democrat categories. The over-50s lean slightly to the
right of the rest of the newsroom, as do the 30-and-unders. Asian Americans
and blacks tend to be more liberal/Democrat than other ethnic groups. An
interesting difference turned up among paper sizes: The smaller the paper,
the more likely there will be conservatives on the staff. On papers of
at least 50,000 circulation, 65 percent of the staffs are liberal/Democrat
or leaning that way, and 12 percent are conservative/Republican or leaning
that way. The split at papers of less than 50,000 is less pronounced: still
predominantly liberal, but 51-23 percent.
As for religious affiliations, the percentages of Catholics and Protestants
have both decreased, although together they still represent 59 percent
of the workforce. ''Other religious belief'' increased from 9 percent to
15 percent, but journalists remain strongly religious: The ''agnostic/nonbeliever''
category was again around 20 percent in 1996.
The Personal Path to Journalism
What made today's newsroom employees want to get into journalism in
the first place? While personal inspirations (teachers, friends, family
members, advisers) had a substantial influence on the choice of newspapering
as a career, the top choice in the survey is ''my own reading'' - chosen
by 36 percent of the journalists. One maturing-boomer respondent adds a
footnote: ''This may sound corny, but the single most significant influence
on my decision to work in journalism was Watergate. I was utterly intrigued
with the impact of the press and Woodward and Bernstein.''
 Patterns of influence seem to vary by age. The over-40 crowd is more likely
than its younger colleagues to have been influenced by reading,
and the twentysomething staffers are more likely to have been
influenced by work on the school paper and by internships. Women
are more likely than men to cite the influence of a teacher, a
course or an internship.
Forty-two percent of the workforce decided to pursue journalism in college
or grad school. But one-fourth of respondents decided in high school and
another one-fourth decided after they were already working in another field.
There seem to be two equally strong appeals of journalism: Forty-one
percent say they were drawn to this work by ''the opportunity to write,''
and more than 37 percent say it was ''the excitement and challenge of journalism.''
Eighteen percent cite ''the opportunity to have an impact on society.''
Factors of prestige and financial security resonate with only 2 and 3 percent,
respectively. The younger journalists often seem to be more attracted by
the opportunity to write, while the over-30s are more likely to have cited
''impact on society.''
As for hands-on training, a major change has emerged: the newspaper
internship. Just eight years earlier, only 30 percent of the workforce
said they had taken an internship at a newspaper while in college. By 1996
the number had risen to 45 percent.
Just as eight years earlier, about two-thirds of newsroom employees
had worked for a college newspaper. And the younger the journalist, the
more likely that he or she worked on the campus paper.
Academics
The newspaper workforce seems to be better-educated. The survey found
that 89 percent of the workforce have college degrees, compared to 86 percent
eight years earlier. Earlier studies of journalists' education had found
only 58 percent were college graduates in 1971, 70 percent in 1982-83,
and 82 percent in 1992 (from Weaver and Wilhoit's The American Journalist).
And it appears the journalism degree is becoming a prerequisite for
newspaper work. The percentage of staff members with journalism degrees
was 50 in 1988 and 54 in 1996. As we might expect, respondents 40 and under
are more likely to have college degrees and to have journalism degrees.
Of all the ethnic groups, including whites, the most likely to have degrees
in journalism are blacks.
Eighteen percent of newspaper journalists have graduate degrees, compared
to 15 percent eight years earlier. But here the principal factor is not
youth: Those 30 and under are less likely than their elders to have graduate
degrees, and those in their 40s are more likely than any other age group
to have a graduate degree. Also, women are more likely than men to have
at least a master's.
Whether it's the influx of top students or simply grade inflation, journalists'
college grades are on the rise. Eight years ago, 26 percent of the workforce
recalled having A averages in college; now it's up to 33 percent. The percentage
of C averages is still around 12 percent; the majority still claim a B
average. No single age group is responsible for the rise in grade-average;
about one-third of each age group report making mostly A's in college;
among those over 50, however, only one in four had mostly A's. Newsroom
supervisors are more likely than other job groups to have made A's and
B's; women are more likely than men to have had A averages. The ethnic
group (including whites) with the best college grades is Asian Americans.
Personal Satisfaction
Newspaper journalists seem to be content with their overall lot in life.
The percentage who label themselves either ''very satisfied'' or ''somewhat
satisfied'' with their personal lives is just above 80, as it was eight
years ago. But a subtle change has emerged, in that the ''very satisfied''
contingent has shrunk from 41 percent to 35 percent. As we will see in
the next section, journalists also tend to be satisfied with their professional
lives, but less so than with the personal side. Sometimes, professional-life
frustrations spill over into the assessment of personal life. One woman,
at a Midwestern metro, attached this explanation to her answers:
''I marked 'unhappy'-looking responses to these questions simply because
I'm working too many hours and too many nights and too many weekends to
have any semblance of a normal life. I don't know how some of the women
out there have kids and successful journalism careers. I own a house I'm
never at. We need to find ways to help all journalists balance the demands
of their jobs with the chance to have some kind of life outside of work.''
When thinking of priorities in their personal lives and what they would
change if they could, newspaper journalists seem to be focusing a little
more on family and relationships than eight years ago. ''If you could change
one thing in your personal life,'' the favored response is still ''more
time for personal interests,'' as it was in 1988, at 40 percent. ''More
time with family'' is the top response for 33 percent, and ''better relationship
with spouse/partner'' is chosen by 14 percent. Leading the attention to
''more time with family'' are the newsroom supervisors and those between
ages 31 and 50. The most likely age groups to choose ''personal interests''
are the youngest and the oldest.
Respondents were asked to choose a single priority in their lives, and
the results suggest that for newspaper journalists, the job is fading from
overall importance. In 1988, 35 percent of the respondents chose ''an interesting
and challenging job'' as life's top priority, but in 1996 that choice was
made by only 29 percent. ''To increase income'' stayed below 10 percent.
The gain was made in ''a successful marriage/good family life,'' which
rose from 48 percent eight years ago to 54 percent. The results vary in
some interesting ways according to age.
Community Involvement
Newsroom people seem to be falling away from personal participation
in their communities, which is ironic in light of the new levels of civic-journalism-fueled
involvement that many newspapers are experiencing in the 1990s.
Survey respondents were asked if they themselves were more, or less,
involved in community life or organizations than other people in their
communities. The ''less involved'' response soared from a 41 percent minority
in 1988 to a 55 percent majority in 1996. Thirteen percent say they are
more involved than others in the community. All age groups and both genders
follow the same pattern in answering the question, and the only job group
more likely to feel ''more involved'' than others in the community is newsroom
supervisors.
Journalists tend not to be working or living in their own hometown areas.
Two-thirds of the respondents say they grew up elsewhere, and that ratio
held across ethnic groups, age and gender. Editorial writers are even more
likely not to have grown up where they now work.
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