Women, Minorities Advance in Local News

The percentage of journalists of color and women working in local television and radio news rose in 2007, as did the percentage of both groups in newsroom leadership positions, according to a survey released by the Radio-Television News Directors Association. The 2008 RTNDA/Hofstra University Annual Survey conducted in fourth-quarter 2007 shows that minorities made up 23.6 percent of local television news staffs, an increase over the 21.5 percent result in 2006, and the second highest percentage since the peak in 2001. The bigger picture appears more mixed. In the past 18 years, the minority population in the United States has risen 8.1 percent; but the minority workforce in TV news is up 5.8 percent, and the minority workforce in radio is up by just 1 percent. The percentages of Asian Americans, Native Americans and Hispanic journalists all increased, while the percentages of African Americans remained steady at 10.1 percent of the broadcast journalism workforce. At non-Hispanic stations, the minority workforce was 20.1 percent, an increase of the previous year's 19.4 percent. Asian Americans and African-Americans gained ground while the number of Hispanic and Native American journalists remained the same. The percentage of minority television news directors reached an all-time high of 15.5 percent, up from 10.9 percent in 2006. In radio, the percentage of minority news directors returned to 5.9 percent, down from the previous year's spike, but more in line with earlier percentages. Measurement of minority news directors in radio fluctuates each year based on which stations complete the survey. In local radio, the minority workforce was 11.8 percent, the first increase after a steady decline for more than a decade. At 40.2 percent, there was no significant change in the percentage of women in the television news workforce in 2007, the study found, but the number of women news directors reached an all-time high of 28.3 percent.