The ASNE board has adopted a set of initiatives it hopes will lead to a significant increase in the number of minorities working in newsrooms. The initiatives, adopted Tuesday by ASNE and the Associated Press Managing Editors group, aim to attract minorities and young people to careers in journalism. The editors also want to foster a talent bank of college students who are seeking journalism internships and first jobs. They plan to organize job fairs, compile a report of minority-hiring success stories, and examine newsroom culture and opportunities for training and promotion. A Web site to introduce high school students to the field of journalism is also in the works.
Progress has been glacial toward increased diversity in the nation's newsrooms, many editors say.
ASNE's annual survey of newsroom diversity, released Tuesday, showed that minority employment at U.S. newspapers isn't increasing as fast as the ASNE board had hoped. The drive to diversify the nation's newsrooms has sparked a host of programs to attract and retain journalists of color. After a heated debate among editors before last year's ASNE convention, ASNE extended the deadline for meeting its diversity goals from 2000 to 2010. This year's employment survey found that minorities represent 11.55 percent of newsroom staffs, up from 11.46 percent last year. There were gains in every racial category except Native Americans.