New Data Show Decline in Newsroom Jobs
Held by Journalists of Color

The number of journalists of color at daily newspapers fell from 11.85 percent to 11.65 percent in the last year, the American Society of Newspaper Editors reported in April at its Washington, D.C., convention.

The drop occurred despite the newspaper industry's rhetoric to have the percentage of minority journalists in newsrooms equal the percentage of minorities in the population. That goal originally had been set in 1978 to be at parity with the population by the year 2000. In 1978 the percentage of persons of color in newsrooms was 3.95 percent, and the percentage of persons of color in the population was about18 percent. New census data show that the population figure since has grown to 30 percent while the number in newsrooms has gone backward. ASNE last year revised back its parity goal to 2025, but the new data make that seem even less possible now.

The National Association of Black Journalists in a prepared release dated April 3 said it was disappointed and frustrated with the news that the number of minority journalists had declined. The percentage has dropped for the first time since ASNE began tracking daily newsroom staffing levels 23 years ago.

Minority employment in professional newsroom jobs rose to 5.27 percent in 1981, climbed to 8.72 percent by 1991 and inched into double digit territory in 1993, reaching 10.25 percent. It hit 11.02 percent by 1996. But a distressing trend surfaced last year when the percentage of black journalists for the first time declined last year to mid-1990s levels. That downward direction continued again this year for African Americans as well as with all other journalists of color. Black journalists comprise the largest number of minorities in professional newsroom jobs. They hold 2,951 positions compared with 2,064 for Hispanics, 1,299 for Asian Americans and 249 for Native Americans.

``NABJ is particularly disheartened to hear that the number of African-American journalists has declined from 5.31 percent in 2000 to 5.23 in 2001,'' the NABJ release said.

``We are going in the wrong direction,'' NABJ President William W. Sutton Jr. said in the prepared statement. ``Our nation is becoming increasingly diverse, and our nation's newspapers are becoming less diverse. Is that any way to truly represent out communities in an accurate, balanced and fair way? I simply don't understand why so many top editors are so willing to mouth the right words but go into their office and do the same things. If this were an advertising circulation or general revenue problem, I'm sure more people would be paying attention, and there would be more positive results.''

Overall newsroom employment rose by 154 and now is at 56,393. But the number of minority journalists fell from 6,665 to 6,563. That drop has been pinned to problems with retention. ASNE reported that editors hired nearly 600 journalists of color into their first full-time newsroom jobs in 2000. It was the fourth highest number of new hires since ASNE started keeping this type of data and the highest since 1991. But at year's end, 698 minority journalists had quit newspaper jobs. The major loss came at newspapers from 5,000 to 50,000 circulation. KCABJ President Benita Y. Williams told the April membership meeting that many journalists of color continually express their frustrations but get few results from the newspapers where they work.

Also disturbing was the number of newspapers with no minorities increased, from 39 percent to 44 percent. Other data show that journalists of color are under represented in management. Minorities account for 9 percent of the total number of supervisors in newsrooms.

Meanwhile, the percentage of women in daily newsrooms rose slightly from 37.12 percent to 37.35 percent. Women also represented 34 percent of newsroom supervisors, the same percentage as last year.

The breakout of where journalists of color work also is interesting. The largest number of minority journalists are in the Middle Atlantic states of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. But the 1,040 persons represents just 11.22 percent of the total. The highest percentage is in the West South Central states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. In those states, the 853 minority journalists held 16.5 percent of the jobs.

In the West North Central states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, journalists of color amounted to only 288 persons and held just 7.16 percent of the jobs. Here are the number of minorities at newspapers in the KCABJ area: in Kansas the Kansas City, Kansan, 0.0 percent; the Lawrence Journal-World, 0.0 percent; The Leavenworth Times, 0.0 percent; The Olathe Daily News (now owned by The Kansas City Star) 0.0 percent; The Ottawa Herald, 0.0 percent; and The Topeka Capital-Journal, 1.8 percent.

In Missouri, The Blue Springs Examiner, 0.0 percent; the Columbia Daily Tribune, 5.9 percent; the Columbia Missourian, 9.1 percent; the Independence Examiner, 0.0 percent; the Jefferson City Post Tribune and Daily Capital News, 0.0 percent; The Kansas City Star, 17.8 percent; The Sedalia Democrat, 18.2 percent; the Springfield News-Leader, 4.5 percent; The St. Joseph News-Press, 5.1 percent; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 14.2 percent; and The Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, 0.0 percent.

Why Diversity Matters In The News Media

A Berkeley Media Studies group reported in April that even as violent crime rates shrink, news outlets unfairly focus on young Latino and African-American men who commit acts of violence. The Associated Press story ran in USA Today.

The media think tank's research project was called ``Off Balance: Youth, Race and Crime in the News.'' It examined crime coverage in media outlets across the nation. It found that the result of skewed coverage is a public perception that youth crime is on the rise. The public then supports zero tolerance and other get-tough crime policies based on the notion that something has to be done.

``People rely on the news media for accurate information,'' said Lori Dorfman, an author of the report and director of the Berkeley research branch. ``When it comes to crime, youth and people of color, they're getting confusion rather than clarity -- part of the story, not the whole story.''

The study found that homicide coverage on network news increased 473 percent from 1990 to 1998 while homicides decreased 32.9 percent during that time. While homicides committed by youths dropped 68 percent from 1993 to 1999, 62 percent of the public reported that they thought youth crime was on the rise.

The report also said black people too often are portrayed as perpetrators and are underrepresented as victims. It gives white people the impression that they are more likely to be a victim of black-on-white crimes when they face a far greater likelihood of being a victim of same race crimes. Minorities also were treated unfairly in other ways: A study of Indianapolis newspapers found that if a suspect in a violent crime was black, the average article length was longer. Also newspapers rarely reported violent crime when the suspect was white, the study said. (By the way, only 10 percent of The Indianapolis Star's newsroom staff were minorities, according to the ASNE report.) And even though Hispanics now comprise the nation's largest minority, the Berkeley report said they remain invisible in the news media except in crime reports.

The Berkeley study makes several recommendations for print and broadcast news organizations: Balance crime stories with stories about youth accomplishments, conduct voluntary audits of news content and put crime into context by providing statistics of crime rates with crime stories. Those things are more likely to happen if more people of color are on the professional staffs in newsrooms.

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