By 2010, ASNE will need to examine staffing levels at that point and adjust this benchmark accordingly. Significantly, in 2011 the first baby boomers will begin collecting Social Security. Forty-four percent of all journalists are 40 and older, according to The Newspapers Journalists of the 90s, a report published by ASNE in April 1997. Since 1993 the percentage and number of minorities in internships has skidded. The percentage of minority interns should grow by three-fourths of one percentage point a year until reaching 50 percent.
Internships are key to future full-time employment.
Internships, along with work at the college newspaper, are basic requirements of editors and recruiters when looking for entry-level candidates. The percent of minority supervisors grew from 1993 to 1997 but has remained the same for the past two years. Blacks and whites in newsrooms have very different opinions on the standards for promotion. 92 percent of newsroom managers said standards for promotions were the same for blacks and non-blacks. Fifty-nine percent of NABJ members said blacks have to meet higher standards.