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Career Center News

By The Associated Press

Survey: Newspaper cuts clip younger, minority workers

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

AP Business Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cost-cutting newspapers are losing many of their youngest reporters, editors and photographers at the same time publishers are trying to break some of their old habits and learn new tricks on the Internet.

The findings emerged in a recent survey conducted by the Associated Press Managing Editors, an industry group. The report suggests the massive staff cuts at newspapers across the United States will make it even more difficult for the industry to adapt and remain relevant in the age of digital media.

Most of the 95 editors responding to the August survey said their newsroom staffs had shrunk by more than 10 percent during the past year. And workers between 18 and 35 years old represented the largest age group affected by the layoffs, buyouts and attrition, the survey found.

Meanwhile, the survey's respondents indicated minorities working in newsrooms were among the demographic groups least affected by the cutbacks.

Most of the survey respondents said cultivating an ethnically diverse staff remains a high priority, even as their newsrooms shrink. That echoes an April survey from the American Society of News Editors, which found that daily newspapers cut 5,900 newsroom jobs in 2008 -- but maintained the percentage of minorities at roughly 13 percent.

The more recent survey by the Associated Press Managing Editors didn't seek to quantify the percentage of minorities currently working at newspapers. But diversity isn't just about ethnicity, said Tom Kearney, managing editor of the Stowe Reporter, a weekly newspaper in Vermont.

"Because Vermont is soooooo white, diversity doesn't involve race as much as it does gender and background," Kearney wrote in his survey response.

Men have been harder hit by the past year's cutbacks than women, according to the newspaper editors who answered the APME survey.

The 13-question poll didn't mine a representative sample of the roughly 1,400 daily newspapers in the United States. Still, the findings highlight how staff reductions are making it harder for many newspapers to cater to the interests and needs of their audiences.

"We did not have enough diversity to begin with," wrote Lyle Muller, managing editor of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "Cutting positions put us more at risk. Meanwhile, our community is becoming more diverse so we are getting farther behind in our efforts to reflect it."

Retaining younger workers may be more important than ever as the Internet reshapes the way stories and photographs are assembled and presented. While many older journalists are adapting, the adjustment presumably isn't as difficult for younger workers who have grown up with the Internet and may have honed their digital skills in college. Having the viewpoints of younger workers also helps newspapers identify trends and issues affecting younger generations.

The Huntsville Times in Alabama has been relying on its younger reporters to help teach everyone else in the newsroom how to tap into popular sites like Facebook and MySpace to find story ideas and sources, said Curtis Coghlan, the newspaper's managing editor.

"It really has helped our coverage become younger (in tone) and more in touch with what's going on in the community," Coghlan said. "It has really helped us get more diverse stories into the paper faster."

Publishers often offer buyouts or early-retirement packages to older workers in hopes of retaining their younger -- and typically lower paid -- employees, said newspaper analyst Ken Doctor of Outsell Inc. But when the job cutting dictates layoffs, union rules sometimes handcuff management by requiring workers with the least tenure to be shown the door first, Doctor said.

(Although a relatively small percentage of U.S. newspapers employ workers covered by collective bargaining agreements, labor unions do represent reporters and photographers at some of the largest dailies. The Newspaper Guild says it represents workers at 165 U.S. newspapers, including some weeklies.)

Persuading current and prospective workers that newspapers remain an attractive career option is getting more difficult as the industry's financial woes mount. Nearly one-quarter of the newspaper industry's annual advertising sales have evaporated during the last two years, and analysts don't expect all of it to come back after the U.S. economy recovers from the longest recession since World War II.

With less money coming into newspapers, a large number of employees are seeking better opportunities in other industries that offer more job security, according to the survey.

"Newspapers have lost a lot of their mojo," Doctor said. "If you are 25 or 35 (years old), you are going to be part of an industry that is going to thrive in the future. That is not the way newspapers are perceived right now, rightly or wrongly."

Many editors responding to the survey seemed to understand the reasons for the defections, citing lengthy freezes on pay and hiring that have made newsroom jobs less enjoyable.

To lure and retain workers, newspaper publishers "should increase their pay and benefits and treat people with kindness and dignity," wrote Kristen Mustain, editor of The Grove Sun in Oklahoma.

Other editors responding to the survey seemed resigned to finding ways to maintain their newspapers' standards with a less diverse staff.

The Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville, Tenn., is hoping better use of the Web can help offset its recent reductions in staff.

"We still know what to do (on diversity)," wrote Richard Stevens, The Leaf-Chronicle's executive editor. "It's just harder and harder to do it with fewer resources. A main challenge now is to understand how diverse readers are using digital tools, and to remember diversity concepts when shaping digital content."

Diversity Kansas group shutting down

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A Wichita-based group that worked to promote acceptance of diversity will cease operations on Sept. 15.

The board of directors of Diversity Kansas announced Tuesday that it will disband because of difficulty raising money and the recent resignation of long-time executive director Sue Castile.

Castile resigned to become executive director of InterFaith Ministries next month.

Board members said the group would maintain its nonprofit status and consider resuming operations if circumstances change.

The organization was established in 1933 as the National Conference of Christians and Jews of Kansas. It was later known as the National Conference for Community and Justice of Kansas, and it became Diversity Kansas in 2007.

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Information from: The Wichita Eagle, http://www.kansas.com

3 states still ban religious clothing for teachers

By WILLIAM McCALL

Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A law backed by the Ku Klux Klan nearly a century ago to keep Catholics out of public schools is still on the books in Oregon, one of the last states in the nation to prohibit teachers from wearing religious clothing in classrooms.

Both Pennsylvania and Nebraska have similar laws, which try to balance the constitutional conflict between protecting students from the establishment of religion in schools and the rights of teachers to express their beliefs through their dress.

Oregon's law, originally aimed at priest collars and nun habits, survived a legal challenge in the 1980s by a Sikh convert who wanted to wear her turban in the classroom and was recently upheld by the state's Legislature.

A Muslim teacher in Pennsylvania lost a similar challenge in 1991 to that state's even older law for the right to wear a headscarf at school. So far, it has not posed any serious legal issues in Nebraska.

That such a law still exists was a surprise for many Oregonians who learned about it when Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed the Oregon Workplace Religious Freedom Act in July, allowing workers to wear religious clothing on the job.

But the did law did not change the ban for teachers enacted in the 1920s, after that portion was opposed by the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on the grounds that impressionable children should not feel indoctrinated by their teachers.

The laws' existence also surprised Mona Elgindy, a law student at Loyola University in Chicago who wrote a paper on the issue. She is a Muslim and a former teacher.

"I kept doing research and research, and thought I must be finding something that's overruling this, or repealing the law, and there was nothing," Elgindy said.

In her paper, one of the few studies on religious clothing laws in recent years, Elgindy noted she could find no evidence that the laws statutes have ever been invoked by students. Rather, the recent legal history has been created by teachers trying to keep their jobs after administrators confronted them.

Court rulings in both Oregon and federal court in Pennsylvania rejected the claims by teachers and pointed out conflicts with the First Amendment: Teachers have a constitutional right to freedom of religion, but school districts must avoid supporting any religion.

Michael Kaufman, one of Elgindy's professors and an education law expert, said laws banning religious clothing used to be fairly common. But there has been a gradual shift away from them to protect teachers' religious freedom as long as it does not disrupt the classroom.

"It's now sort of gone full circle," Kaufman said. "The law now requires neutrality regarding religion, meaning the states or schools can neither favor nor disfavor religion."

The few remaining bans "are really suspect constitutionally now," he said.

During her eight years as a teacher in the Chicago area, Elgindy says she never ran into a conflict over her style of dress and covering her hair.

"It never was something that seemed to be in the way of my being a teacher," she said, adding it was often the opposite reaction. "They said, 'Here's somebody of a different background who can bring diversity to the staff.' It was always seen as positive thing."

An example of a shift in court attitude may have been signaled when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in 1999 that Muslim police officers in Newark, N.J., must be allowed to wear beards.

Tom Hutton, senior staff attorney for the National School Boards Association, said he did not know of any significant pending cases that might test the bans.

"It's really anybody's guess, but my own personal view is it would be more of an uphill battle to defend a religious garb statute than attack it," Hutton said.

Oregon House Speaker Dave Hunt wanted to include teachers in the new workplace law. But it was opposed by the ACLU during a legislative session dominated by the recession and one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

Dave Fidanque, ACLU executive director for Oregon, said the law helps ensure religious neutrality in public schools even though times have changed. "It's not an easy issue," he said.

Schools have been battlegrounds because "those who feel very strongly that their particular brand of religion is best feel the need to have their religion endorsed by public schools to attract more followers to their beliefs," Fidanque said.

The battle has not changed much since the 19th century when Pennsylvania voters passed a law in 1895 aimed at preventing nuns from wearing religious clothing in schools, said Stuart Knade, attorney for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

The effort to ensure religious neutrality in schools came from parents who had the strongest religious beliefs, "so there's an interesting irony there," Knade said.

Rajdeep Singh Jolly, legal director for the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, both say the laws are not only unconstitutional, but discriminatory because their enforcement now tends to fall on minorities.

The Sikh group has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether the Oregon law violates Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, and received a letter this week saying the department would give it "careful consideration."

Jolly and Hooper say the best way to deal with any problem involving religion in classrooms is to discipline teachers if they try to proselytize students or advocate favoring a particular religion, not for the way they dress.

"I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect that teachers will not talk about their religion in the classroom," Jolly said.

But when it comes to a Sikh turban or other clothing, he asked: "Why should I have to surrender something that is such an integral part of my life in order to pursue a career? It just doesn't make sense."

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The Elgindy paper is available online at Loyola University at:  http://www.luc.edu/law/academics/special/center/child/childed(unders core)forum/pdfs/elgindy(underscore)end(underscore)era.pdf

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• Religious & National Origins Discrimination at Work After 9/11
  By Paul Igasaki, Special to IMDiversity

Watercooler: Passive managers; getting paid to show up at work

By ERIN CONROY

AP Business Writer

BE CLEAR, BOSS: As a manager, you're expected to make demands of other people. So why do many find it so hard?

Ron Ashkenas, managing partner at Robert H. Schaffer & Associates in Stamford, Conn., and author of the upcoming book "Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done," says it stems from an innate desire to be liked.

"It's unconscious and unintentional, but we all want to be well-received and respected," Ashkenas said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "Managers get anxious about giving tough messages and tend to water down their demands because of it."

Ashkenas mentions these mistakes managers should avoid:

--Backing away from expectations. Whether they're afraid employees will argue with their request or just wave it off, many managers compromise their demands just to avoid confrontation. Be strong and clear when outlining what you need done. Don't, for instance, start a meeting by stating the company needs to cut costs by 20 percent, then negotiate when you see your subordinates' reactions.

--Engaging in charades. Telling employees it's your boss, not you, who is setting certain goals suggests you are just passing the buck. It may also give an impression you don't believe they're even attainable.

--Accepting seesaw trades. You need to increase sales, so the salespeople will say it can easily be done by cutting prices or giving deeper discounts. Making such adjustments quickly sucks you into a cycle of bargaining.

--Setting vague or distant goals. If it's something that can be put off, it will be.

--Failing to establish consequences. If someone does a mediocre job, give them a mediocre performance review. Holding people accountable is one of the most effective ways to get results.

--Setting too many goals. Giving a long list only leaves individuals to make their own personal decision about which items are important, and which aren't. Instead, give two or three important goals that absolutely must be met.

--Allowing deflection to preparations and studies. Hiring a consultant for a six-month study is another way to avoid the issues with employees. Work with your team to be proactive and experiment with your business strategy for the results you want.

"This may sound overly simplistic, but most employees like a challenge and will step up to the plate when they need to," Ashkenas said. "A tough assignment will probably be something they'll welcome, and respect you for."

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CLOCK IN, CLOCK OUT: Can you show up to work on time?

That may be all it takes. Though times are trying, many small business owners admit they're paying employees just to show up and not much more.

According to the recent telephone survey of 1,000 randomly selected U.S. small businesses with revenues between $1 million and $200 million, 41 percent said their workers are paid for their attendance rather than their performance. Of those surveyed, 45 percent said their employees don't have any daily, specific or measurable goals.

Meanwhile, 45 percent said the employees don't contribute directly to the bottom line.

"Too many small businesses still reward employees for just showing up, for being a warm body every day," said Paul Rauseo, managing director of George S. May International, a consulting firm that conducted the survey. "You're setting the stage to destroy profits when employees expect compensation for participation in collaborative activities, regardless of results."

Pay-for-performance doesn't guarantee profitability, but it has advantages in a down economy, Rauseo said.

"There are things you can do to turn your business around," he said. "Taking a long, hard look at your compensation practices is one of them."

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• Previous Watercooler: Stop interruptions; manage better; more

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