2012 Television Newsroom Diversity Census

The 2012 Television Newsroom Management Diversity Census is comprised of two reports. The first report studies the diversity of news managers at 295 stations owned by different 19 companies. There are more than 700 such stations nationwide and it is our intent to eventually document every television newsroom in the country. The second report examines the diversity of newsroom managers and executives at broadcast and cable news networks.

Unlike the local station, which broadcast to their respective markets, the networks provide news to the entire country. Newsrooms are encouraged to reflect the diversity of the communities they serve to ensure fair coverage. According to the 2010 United States Census, non-Whites comprise nearly 35% of the U.S. population but the study finds that people of color fill only 12% of the newsroom management positions at 295 stations owned by ABC, Allbritton, Belo, CBS, Cox, Fox, Gannett, Hearst, Journal, Lin Media, Media General, Meredith, NBC, Nexstar, Raycom, Sinclair, E.W. Scripps, Post-Newsweek and Tribune. The company with the highest diversity percentage is NBC at 27%, followed by ABC (20%), Belo Corporation (19%) and Raycom Media (17%). At the other end is Sinclair Broadcasting (3%). Media General and Journal Broadcasting are only slightly better at 5%. More than half (153) of the television stations in the report have no one of color in management, despite being located in cities with significant diversity such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Antonio, Atlanta and Little Rock. In fact none of the four television stations in Little Rock, where 30% of the population is non-White, has any diversity in management. Another 86 stations each have only one person of color in management. This includes stations located in other cities with large minority populations including Dallas, Houston and El Paso. Out of a total of 1,647 managers, 1,447 (87.9%) are White, 115 (6.98%) are Black, 56 (3.40%) are Hispanic, 27 (1.64%) are Asian and 3 (.12)% are Native American. One-thousand-twenty-nine (62%) are men, 618 (38%) are women.