| Members of minority groups share many traits with wheir
white colleagues. But among the issues on which they differ is on the commitment
of their paper to diversity, which they believe to be inadequate. And if
they could make one change at their paper, most would chose to improve
newsroom communication rather than to expand the staff.
The 1996 newsroom reflected in the survey was 11 percent minority -
still considerably less than minority representation in the population
as a whole (26 percent). But if the numbers in the sample represent the
workforce as a whole (and ASNE's 1996 employment survey also found 11 percent),
the news business is clearly moving away from its white-male dominance
of the previous 200 years.
In what ways are blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans and American Indians
different from the racial majority? To find reliable answers, a second
survey phase was necessary. The 1996 workforce sample yielded only about
110 minority journalists, including only a few dozen Hispanic and Asian
American journalists and only a few American Indians. In order to get results
that could be analyzed with greater statistical power, an ''oversample''
of minorities was sought, in which members of the National Association
of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists,
the Asian American Journalists Association, and the Native American Journalists
Association were asked to fill out questionnaires.
When the data from minority respondents in the original workforce survey
were combined with the ''oversample'' data, the number of black respondents
totaled 155; Hispanics, 92; Asian Americans, 98; and American Indians,
12. Because the number of American Indians was still too low to assure
statistical significance, the American Indian results were not broken out
as a separate category.
In most of the survey analyses, it is impossible to merge groups to
create a ''minority opinion'' or ''minority characteristic,'' because such
a grouping would be arbitrary in the extreme. Blacks, Hispanics and Asian
Americans are often as different from one another as they are from white
journalists. For example, the distribution of job categories among minorities
seems to mirror the distribution for the entire workforce: 46 percent reporters,
10 percent photographers/ artists, 23 percent supervisors, etc. But there
is one notable exception: There tend to be fewer Hispanic copy editors.
Whereas 18 percent of the rest of the workforce (including blacks and Asian
Americans) work on the copy desk, only 10 percent of Hispanics are copy
editors.
In many areas of newspaper journalism, ethnic origin makes no difference.
In the characteristics and attitudes probed in this survey, however, there
are enough differences to warrant at least some reporting here. As the
news business strives to increase its ethnic and gender diversity to better
reflect the population it serves, the values and traits of its minority-group
journalists will become increasingly important.
Personal Differences
Perhaps the most striking demographic difference between minority and
white newspaper journalists is age: The minority journalists are younger.
Whereas 52 percent of all respondents are between 25 and 40, 67 percent
of Hispanics and blacks are that young. The difference is more pronounced
among Asian Americans: 50 percent are under 30 (compared to 20 percent
for the overall sample).
The balance between men and women is about the same for Hispanics as
it is for whites, but not so for Asian Americans and blacks. In fact, only
in these two ethnic groups are women the majority: 53 percent of Asian
American journalists are women, and 52 percent of blacks (compared to 37
percent of the workforce).
Minority journalists tend to work at the larger papers. Seventy-three
percent of the respondents work at papers of at least 50,000 circulation,
but more than 83 percent of the Hispanics, blacks and Asian Americans work
at papers that large. And while only 37 percent of the workforce are at
papers of more than 250,000 in circulation, 49 percent of Asian Americans,
53 percent of blacks and 55 percent of Hispanics work for metros of that
size.
Blacks and Asian Americans tend to be single with greater frequency
than the other ethnic groups, and minority journalists' children tend to
be younger, but those results are a function of the relative youth of the
minority workforce.
In politics, minority journalists are decidedly more liberal. Where
61 percent of the workforce is liberal-Democratic or leaning in that direction,
the figure is 80 percent for the Asian Americans. And where 15 percent
of the workforce are conservative-Republican or leaning that way, those
descriptions fit only 3 percent of the black journalists.
The differences in religious affiliations seem to follow more general
cultural patterns: Blacks are more likely than the rest of the workforce
to be Protestant or ''other religious belief''; Asian Americans are more
likely to be ''other'' or ''agnostic/nonbeliever''; and Hispanics are more
likely to be Catholic.
Different Roads to Journalism
Each minority group displays a slightly different route to the journalism
career. Asian Americans are more likely than all other ethnic groups to
cite the school paper as the greatest influence on their decision to pursue
journalism, while blacks are more likely to cite a teacher or a course.
Also, Asian Americans and blacks seem more attracted to journalism than
the others by the ''opportunity to have an impact on society.'' That is
the top pick for those two ethnic groups, while the top choice for Hispanics
and whites is ''the excitement and challenge of journalism.''
Majorities in all ethnic groups worked on the college paper, but the
proportion is highest among Asian Americans: 80 percent. And while only
43 percent of the whites in the sample had internships in school, majorities
in all the minority groups had internships. (This again could be a function
of the minorities' youth, as newspaper internships are far more common
now than 20 or 30 years ago.)
Blacks are more likely than any other group to have degrees in journalism,
but blacks are also more likely to have had C averages in college. The
majority of every group had B averages, but 22 percent of blacks say they
made C's (compared to 10 percent for everyone else), and 43 percent of
the Asian Americans say they had A averages (compared to 33 percent for
everyone else). Asian American journalists also are the ethnic group most
likely to hold graduate degrees.
There are also subtle differences in priorities in the personal lives
of the minority journalists. All ethnic groups (including whites) choose
''successful marriage and family life'' most often, but 14 percent of blacks
and Hispanics choose ''increasing my income'' as the top priority (compared
to 6 percent of the other groups), and Asian Americans are far more likely
than the others to choose ''an interesting and challenging job.''
The ethnic groups share many characteristics. Family-income patterns
do not vary by race, nor do measures of satisfaction with one's personal
life. Asked what they would do if they could ''change one thing'' in their
personal lives, the journalists' answers follow the same pattern: Each
group's majority wants more time to pursue personal interests (although
blacks are twice as likely as the other groups to say their highest priority
is to ''live elsewhere'').
Also, one-third of journalists are working in their original hometown
area, regardless of race, and the distribution of sexual orientation (about
96 percent heterosexual overall) hardly varies by ethnic group.
Differences in Aspirations
Here again, there are many similarities, but differences emerge in the
aspirations of minority journalists, in their thoughts about management
and, unsurprisingly, in their opinions about the coverage and treatment
of minority groups.
All ethnic groups report overwhelmingly (76 percent) that they prefer
their current job to their most recent previous post, but Asian Americans
lead the way, with 88 percent preferring their present job. All ethnic
groups agree that their job meets their expectations, but a stronger minority
opinion emerged among blacks: 36 percent say the job falls short of their
expectations (compared to 25 percent of the overall workforce).
The best thing about the job is the ''opportunity to be creative and
the daily challenge'' for a majority of each group. Blacks and Hispanics
tend to be more optimistic and more ambitious than the overall sample.
Whereas 51 percent of the whites in the sample rate their chances for advancement
in journalism as "good" or "excellent," 64 percent
of blacks and 65 percent of Hispanics make that assessment. And while 34
percent of the white journalists aspire to be top editor or publisher,
47 percent of the Hispanic journalists and 54 percent of the blacks are
reaching that high. If they were to be doing the same work five years from
now, majorities of blacks and Hispanics would be unhappy (compared to 35
percent of the whites).
Blacks and Hispanics also hold a different view on how people advance
in their newsroom. The overall workforce accords roughly equal force to
''merit'' and ''politics'' as the primary basis for advancement (38 and
34 percent, respectively), but 50 percent of the black and Hispanic journalists
say politics is the primary basis.
There are differences as well on the ''biggest obstacle'' to advancement.
The most common obstacle cited by all ethnic groups is competition, but
significant segments of the black, Hispanic and Asian American groups cite
''minority status.'' More than 37 percent of the black journalists make
that choice (although another 37 percent of blacks rate competition as
the biggest obstacle). Gender clearly is not perceived by minorities as
the greatest obstacle, despite the greater female representation among
blacks and Asian Americans. Only 1 or 2 percent of each minority group
name gender as the biggest obstacle - compared to 13 percent of the white
sample.
There is virtually no difference among ethnic groups on the biggest
complaint with the job, on the future of newspapers generally, or on the
question of whether one would choose newspapers again as a career (a resounding
yes).
If I Were to Leave Journalism . . .
Minority groups seem to have different visions of why and when they
would leave newspaper work. Asked their primary reason for ever leaving
the business, 16 percent of the workforce choose ''opportunity for advancement,''
but that is the top choice for 28 percent of the Hispanics and 35 percent
of the blacks. And while 43 percent of the overall workforce plan to leave
newspapers in their 60s, 32 percent of Asian Americans, 29 percent of Hispanics
and 18 percent of blacks predict they will stay that long. In fact, a majority
(54 percent) of blacks say they will probably leave before age 50 (compared
to 33 percent of the others). Nearly one-fourth of Hispanics say they will
leave before age 40 (compared to 12 percent of the rest).
And leave to do what? Every ethnic group (including whites) most often
would leave to do some other kind of writing, except blacks: The top choice
among black journalists (at 34 percent) is to go into public relations.
Asian Americans and Hispanics are less likely than the others to seek out
public relations as the first choice.
My Own Paper's Treatment of Women and Minorities
There is a great deal of sameness among ethnic groups on ratings of
their paper's coverage of most subject areas. Blacks are more likely than
other groups to consider their paper's coverage of crime as ''fair'' or
''poor.'' But the salient differences emerge over coverage of minorities
and gays/lesbians. While 27 percent of the whites in the sample rate their
paper's coverage of minorities as poor, 46 percent of blacks, 41 percent
of Hispanics and 38 percent of Asian Americans give that assessment. As
for their paper's coverage of gays and lesbians, the top choice for every
ethnic group is poor, but only for blacks is poor a choice for the majority
(55 percent).
Minority-group journalists tend to disagree with their white colleagues
over the treatment of certain groups in the newsroom. A 54 percent majority
of blacks, for instance, say people of color are treated unfairly in their
newsrooms, compared with only 12 percent of the whites. Thirty-eight percent
of Asian Americans and 29 percent of Hispanics also rate the treatment
as unfair.
Majorities of all ethnic groups but blacks agree that men and white
people are treated fairly in the newsroom. Fifty-four percent of the black
journalists say men are treated better than others, and 57 percent of blacks
feel that white people are treated better than others. Strong segments
of the other minority groups agree: 37 percent of Hispanics say men are
treated better and 42 percent say whites are treated better; 38 percent
of Asian Americans say men are treated better, and 30 percent say whites
are treated better.
Majorities of all ethnic groups agree that women are treated fairly,
but one-third of the black journalists say women are treated unfairly (as
compared to only one-sixth of all the others).
Differences emerge over the commitment of papers to diversity and fairness.
Whereas most white journalists consider their paper's commitment to ethnic
diversity to be ''appropriate,'' 75 percent of blacks (and 66 percent of
Hispanics and 65 percent of Asian Americans) say it is ''inadequate.''
Only one-fourth of the sample rate their paper's commitment to gender diversity
as inadequate, but 45 percent of blacks and 39 percent of Asian Americans
give their papers inadequate marks. Significant portions of the black and
Asian American groups also rate their paper's commitment to fairness on
issues of sexual orientation as inadequate.
As for assessments of the overall quality of their own paper, however,
ethnicity makes no difference.
Management Styles
Minority groups differ in some important ways from the white majority
in the views of how the newsroom ought to be run. Asked what single change
they would make if they were in charge of the newsroom, the top choice
(at 36 percent) for the overall workforce is to expand the staff. Not so
for blacks, Hispanics and Asian Americans. The top choice for all three
ethnic groups (at about 38 percent of all responses) is ''improve communication
between management and staff, including more feedback.'' Twenty-three percent
of the rest of the overall newsroom would make that their number-one improvement.
Also, significant numbers of minority-group respondents (about 16 percent)
choose ''provide training for career development,'' the top choice for
only 9 percent overall.
Encouragement, one-on-one communication and feedback form a theme for
management among the minority groups. Asked to name their immediate supervisor's
major strength, Asian Americans are more likely than any other ethnic group
to choose ''encouraging people and giving feedback.'' Asked to name their
immediate supervisor's major weakness, blacks and Asian Americans are more
likely to choose ''poor at encouraging people and giving feedback.'' While
roughly half of the overall workforce support more frequent one-on-one
communication, 70 percent of blacks and 74 percent of Asian Americans urge
more one-on-one.
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