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ASNE Report Finds Percentage of Minorities in Newsrooms Declining

Decline is only the second since Association's first survey in 1978

By IMDiversity Staff

April 4, 2007 - According to the American Newspaper Editors Association 2007 survey on the representation of minorities in U.S. news media, the percentages of minority and women journalists working in America’s newsrooms both declined in the past year. In a March 26 release, ASNE president Dave Zeeck called for the industry to “redouble our efforts” and to “remember that diversity isn’t just about numbers…diverse staffs lead to better reporting.”

In a year marked by news organization layoffs that were headlines in themselves, ASNE’s annual “census” found that the percentage of minorities fell to 13.62 percent, down from 13.87 last year.  The percentage of women also dropped from 37.70 to 37.56 percent. According to ASNE, it is only the second time since the survey started in 1978 that the percentage of minorities has declined.

The percentage of minorities in supervisory roles at daily newspapers dropped to 10.9 percent, equal to the percentage from two years ago.

The downward trend holds true for student and entry-level employment as well.  According to ASNE’s release, the percentage of minority interns stands at nearly 27 percent, “a number that has continued to fall as newspapers cut back” on internships.

The one silver lining in the report seemed to come from online media. ASNE’s census of daily newspapers for the first time counted full-time staffers who work entirely at online publishing activities by their companies.  Among online media staffs, the percentage of minorities on staff was an estimated 16 percent, which helped make the drop in overall employment numbers seem less severe than they might have been.

Outside of online publishing, the environments in which minority workers fare best in employment percentages is at medium-sized papers withy circulations of between 100,001 to 500,000.  Minorities account for 27 percent of those working at newspapers with 100,001 to 250,000 circulation; 22 percent of those with 250,001 to 500,000 circulation; and only 17 percent of those with 500,000+ circulation.  Overall, the number of newspapers with no minorities on their full-time staff increased this year, from 377 to 392.

The conclusions are based on data from 932 respondents out of the 1,415 daily papers, which ASNE reports represents 65.87 percent of all U.S. dailies.

ASNE represents the main editors at some 750 daily newspapers across the Americas.

For detailed tables from the census, see ASNE website