However, daily newspapers remain far short of matching minorities 26 percent share of the U.S. population. Minority staffers tend to be younger than non-minority staffers. Fewer journalists said they are planning to make newspapers their sole career. Women and minorities, in particular, predict they will leave early. The most often cited reason for leaving is still money, especially at smaller newspapers.
Minorities leave if they see more opportunity for advancement elsewhere.
Not only did we recruit a smaller crop of beginning journalists in the last eight years, but many are not committed to staying. We ve seen that women and minorities are well represented in the youngest age group. So, retention efforts have to be a key element of our campaign to achieve a diverse newsroom. Newspaper journalists seem not to be as ambitious as they used to be. Almost a third of the work force aspire to no higher than reporter, copy editor or photographer.