Diversity at Work

By Tom Huang
Ethics and Diversity Fellow

WASHINGTON -- Let me be a realist, if not a pessimist: The diversity numbers released by the American Society of Newspaper Editors on Sunday worry me.
          
A lot.
           
At first glance, the overall numbers don’t seem too gloomy: In the past year, the percent of minorities working at daily newspapers grew a smidgeon -- from 13.43 percent to 13.52 percent.
           
But it's the absolute number we should be worried about.

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The only reason why the percentage of minorities in newsrooms has essentially remained flat is because both white and minority journalists left our newsrooms at about the same rate (resulting in an overall 4.4 percent decrease in full-time journalists at daily newspapers).
           
The total number of minority journalists at daily newspapers fell by about 300 people -- from 7,400 to 7,100.

To be more specific, in the past year, an estimated 671 minority journalists left newsrooms. At the same time, only about 392 other minority journalists were hired for their first full-time newsroom job.
           
That's a big problem: Since 1986, with the exception of one year, the number of minorities coming in the door has always outpaced the number of minorities going out -- sometimes at as high a ratio as 2-to-1.
           
In other words, even though newsroom management across the country has not done a great job in retaining minority journalists, it has made up for this by recruiting new talent. But it's not clear that kind of replenishment is going to be possible with as little hiring as newsrooms are doing moving forward.

At the ASNE conference, I tracked down two high-profile diversity advocates: Caesar Andrews, executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, and Gilbert Bailon, editorial page editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"We're at a point of stagnation," said Andrews, ASNE's incoming treasurer and this past year's diversity committee chair. "... These are not the worst results, but it's frustrating. It doesn't represent significant progress. And it’s at odds with [ASNE's] stated mission of diversity."

ASNE's goal is to have the percentage of minorities working in newsrooms nationwide equal to the percentage of minorities in the nation’s population by 2025.

Yes, it's harder to maintain newsroom diversity when facing an overall reduction in hires. "We all see that," Andrews told me. "But I'd still make the case that if diversity is the urgent priority we say it is, then we still need to figure out how to get different results ... If we’re not going to have robust opportunities for hiring, then we have to figure out ways of retaining people.

"If not, you set yourself up for perpetual battle."

In the past year, minorities made up roughly one out of every seven journalists who left our newsrooms.

"That's of concern," said Bailon, who is outgoing ASNE president. "We can't reverse that trend quickly, given the [limited] amount of hiring that’s going on. It will take quite a bit to reverse that process.

"We're treading water," he said. "We're not decreasing by percentage, but that's overshadowed by having far fewer journalists of color. In a smaller newsroom, if you lose two or three [minority journalists], that’s a dramatic shift."

Meanwhile, another dramatic shift is occurring: Some larger newspapers, like The (San Jose, Calif.) Mercury News, have lost minority journalists from their senior leadership ranks, he said. "Key players are gone," he said.

From my vantage point, the loss of journalists of color from the decision-making tables could lead to even greater challenges to reflecting diversity in our coverage and hiring.

And it's not going to get any easier. If we're treading water now, here are three trends from the ASNE census that tell me rough seas lie ahead:

• From 2003 to 2008, the newsroom retention rate for minority journalists fell from 97 percent to 91 percent. "If we don't develop a better track record in keeping good people longer ... we're fighting a losing battle," Andrews said.
  
  
• From 2006 to 2008, the number of minorities in their first full-time newsroom jobs fell from 567 to 392. The opportunities to bring new, diverse talent into our newsrooms are decreasing.
  
  
• From 2005 to 2008, the number of minorities in newsroom internships fell from 948 to 706. How will we maintain, let alone increase, the diversity of our newsrooms if we are giving fewer minority journalists the chance to develop their skills?
  

Andrews argues that this is not just a numbers game. It will have a direct impact on the quality of our journalism.

"If we're intending to connect to various audiences, with coverage that’s relevant to the lives of our audiences, somehow our coverage has to come across as authentic and of the community," he said. "A diverse mix of ideas and perspectives is central to how well and how quickly we can connect..."

There is one bright note in all of this, and perhaps it sheds light on a way forward. For the second year, ASNE counted full-time journalists working online. Of the nearly 1,700 full-time journalists working only on their newspaper's Web operations, 17.79 percent are minorities. That compares favorably to the 16 percent found last year.

This is not rocket science. I'm sure Andrews and Bailon would agree: Strategically, despite all of the challenges we face, if we as an industry want to increase the diversity of our newsrooms, we will have to develop programs that train a diverse mix of journalists how to do sophisticated online work. Let's spark that conversation now.