U.S. “Minority” Population at 36 percent; in Newsrooms, 12.79 percent
The number of journalists of color in daily newspaper and online-only newsrooms declined for the third consecutive year, the American Society of News Editors reported Thursday in disclosing the results of its annual diversity survey.
Minority journalists declined from 5,500 to 5,300, though overall, “American newspapers showed a very slim increase in newsroom employees last year, finally halting a three-year exodus of journalists,” ASNE said.
The decline in journalists of color contrasts with the news industry’s stated goal of parity with the number of people of color in the general population by 2025, and as demographic changes show the nation heading toward majority-minority status.
The percentage of minorities in newsrooms totaled 12.79 percent, a decline of .47 of a percentage point from a year ago. Asian Americans dropped from 3.27 percent in 2010 to 3.10 in 2011; African Americans from 4.88 percent in 2010 to 4.68 in 2011; Hispanics from 4.63 percent in 2010 to 4.54 in 2011; and Native Americans constant at .48 percent.
Black journalists have been particularly affected as newsrooms downsize or individuals seek a more secure line of work.
Last year, ASNE noted that “there were 929 fewer black journalists in the 2010 survey than were recorded in 2001, a drop of 31.5 percent. The number of Native American journalists dropped by 52, or 20.9 percent in the same period. Hispanic representation declined by 145, or 7 percent. The number of white journalists fell by 10,400, or 20.9 percent.”
ASNE said it also surveyed the staffs at 61 online-only newspapers. Fifty percent returned their survey forms, compared with more than 59 percent response rate from 1,389 daily newspapers.
Once again, some well-known online organizations that had declined to participate previously were missing: Salon.com, Yahoo, the Daily Beast, Politico, AOL and Huffington Post. However, MinnPost, which reported no journalists of color, ProPublica, which reported 20 percent, and the New York operation of Patch.com did so. Patch reported 13.6 percent.
The entreaties to do better have become an annual feature of the reports.
“At a time when the U.S. Census shows that minorities are [36] percent of the U.S. population, newsrooms are going in the opposite direction. This is an accuracy and credibility issue for our newsrooms,” Milton Coleman, ASNE president, said in Wednesday’s ASNE news release.
“The slight decline in minority newsroom representation may be small, but is part of a disturbing trend that we need to reverse,” Ronnie Agnew, co-chair of ASNE’s Diversity Committee, added in the release.
“The U.S. Census numbers clearly tell us that people of color populations are growing while our newsrooms aren’t reflecting that growth. This should be a concern to all who see diversity as an accurate way of telling the story of a new America,” Agnew said.
Karen Magnuson, co-chair of ASNE’s Diversity Committee said, “Accurately reflecting the diversity of our communities in our newsrooms and local reports is essential to our industry’s success – now more than ever. As minority populations grow, we must grow with them, finding innovative ways to meet evolving needs for coverage and information delivery.”
Doris Truong, national president of the Asian American Journalists Association, said in AAJA’s statement, “In a nation that is quickly approaching a majority of minorities, diversity needs to be a priority for news leaders. Accurate coverage of our communities can best be achieved through representation of those communities within our newsrooms.”
Two years ago, the census likewise showed the newspaper industry less and less likely to meet its goal of parity with the general population by 2025. In response to that survey, 25 to 30 industry leaders gathered at the Asian American Journalists Association summer convention and decided that the diversity discussion must be moved away from newsrooms to the broader issue of the “accuracy of the report” via whatever messenger the consumer receives it.
However, facilitator Keith Woods, now at NPR, said then that “three hours is not a lot of time” to redefine what diversity looks like and that it was too soon to tell where the conversation would lead.
The lack of follow-through after that effort was cited at a board meeting of Unity: Journalists of Color two weeks ago in discussing Unity’s own effectiveness.
Reprinted from ‘The Root’ (http://www.theroot.com/)