2010 NABJ Diversity Census
TV newsroom management diversity is far from 33% diversity of nation’s population NBC leads the way again, Hearst stations have doubled the number since 2009 (San Diego, July 30, 2010, Forum Report) – Journalists of color represent only 12.6 percent of newsroom management positions in 151 television stations owned by 10 big stations, ABC, CBS, Cox, Fox, Gannett, Hearst Argyle, Media General, Meredith, NBC and Tribune.
National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) officials released this information while sharing the findings of the 2010 television newsroom diversity census report with journalists on Friday (July 30) during NABJ's annual convention in San Diego.
NABJ President Kathy Times said diversity in newsroom management is one of the important factors that can determine an organization’s news agenda. Lack of diversity in the newsroom can result in the type of coverage that we saw in the case of Shirley Sherrod, Times said.
NABJ Vice President-Broadcast Bob Butler shared the challenges of gathering diversity information from different televisions stations. He observed that not all TV station management are equally cooperative in releasing information about diversity in newsrooms. In some cases, the NABJ census team had to depend on insiders or journalistic contacts for information.
Hearst's ranking in the census report does not reflect the diversity effort the compnay has taken in recent years. Butler said the Hearst Argyle stations have doubled the number of people of color in newsroom management positions since 2009. According to the census report, "Hearst commits substantial resources to sponsor and teach annual producer training workshops at historically Black North Carolina A&T University in Orlando form which it hired many NABJ members."
