Forty-three percent of the oldest group work in reporting jobs, compared with 46 percent of the general workforce. Personal Differences Over-50s in the newsroom are more likely to be white men than any other age group. As we might expect, the over-50s are more likely to be married, and also more likely to be divorced, than any other age group. Twenty percent label themselves as conservative or leaning to the right, compared with 15 percent for those under 50. The over-50s reveal distinctly different patterns in their educational and professional careers.
Journalism education seems to have played only a minor role in their decisions to enter the field.
And the over-50s are more likely than other age groups to have decided to enter journalism after college, rather than before or during their college years. The majority of the older journalists worked on college newspapers, but the majority is 56 percent, as compared to 69 percent for the under-50 group. The majority of the oldest group are college graduates, but they are more likely than the other age groups to have majored in subjects other than journalism. Younger journalists are better students than their elder colleagues - or perhaps grading standards were tougher for older generations. Newspaper journalists seem satisfied with their personal lives regardless of age, but their priorities differ.