NABJ laments lack of diversity in TV news management ranks

The National Association of Black Journalists is calling on television group owners to do a better job of reflecting the ethnic makeup of the communities they serve when it comes to naming executives in their local newsrooms.

The 3rd annual Television Newsroom Management Diversity Census is out, and it found that only 12.6% of news staffers at 151 surveyed stations are persons of color, despite the fact that persons of color make up about a third of the general population. NABJ reported, "Out of 815 executive producers, assignment managers, managing editors, assistant news directors, news directors and general managers at the ABC, CBS, Cox, FOX, Gannett, Hearst Argyle, Media General, Meredith, NBC and Tribune stations 713 (87.9%) are White, 64 (7.8%) are African American, 24 (3%) are Hispanic/Latino, 13 (1.6%) are Asian and only 1 is Native American. The management teams at 82 of the stations are all White."