The proportion of minorities who are managers now is 19 percent. This year, the number of minority journalists hired for their first full-time jobs increased to 530 from 510. However, the proportion of first-time hires who were minorities was 20 percent, compared to 21 percent in the 1996 survey. The percentage of minority interns at daily newspapers was 35 percent, according to the 1997 survey. Minorities represented 37 percent of all newspaper interns, the 1996 survey found.
More newspapers employ minority journalists.
The 1997 survey found 56.5 percent of daily newspapers employed minority newsroom professionals, compared to 55.9 percent in the 1996 survey. Currently, the national minority population is about 24 percent. In a question added to the 1997 survey questionnaire, ASNE asked for information from newspapers about the percentage of minority residents in their primary circulation areas. Fifty-five percent of the newspapers that participated in the employment survey responded to this question. Upon analysis, however, ASNE concluded that the question posed generated too great a variety in the responses to ensure the reliability of the data collected.