News Releases
RTNDA/Hofstra Survey: Women and Journalists of Color Advance in Local Broadcast News
NEWS
RELEASE
CONTACT:
Stacey Staniak, 202.467.5214 or staceys@rtnda.org
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: July 21, 2008
RTNDA/Hofstra Survey: Women and Journalists of Color
Advance in Local
Broadcast News
WASHINGTON -- The percentage of journalists of
color and women working in local television and radio news rose in 2007, as did
the percentage of both groups in newsroom leadership positions, according to a
survey released today by the Radio-Television News Directors
Association.
The 2008 RTNDA/Hofstra University Annual
Survey shows that minorities comprised 23.6 percent of local television
news staffs, an increase over the 21.5 percent result in 2006, and the second
highest percentage since the peak in 2001. The number of Asian Americans, Native
Americans and Hispanic journalists all increased, while the number of African
Americans remained steady at 10.1 percent of the workforce.
At
non-Hispanic stations, the minority workforce was 20.1 percent, an increase of
the previous year’s 19.4 percent. Asian Americans and African-Americans gained
ground while the number of Hispanic and Native American journalists remained the
same.
In local radio, the minority workforce was 11.8 percent, the first
increase after a steady decline for more than a decade.
The percentage of minority
television news directors reached an all-time high of 15.5 percent, up from 10.9
percent in 2006. In radio, the percentage of minority news directors returned to
5.9 percent, down from the previous year’s spike, but more in line with earlier
percentages. Measurement of minority news directors in radio fluctuates each
year based on which stations complete the survey.
Women in Local
News
At 40.2 percent, there was
no significant change in the percentage of women in the television news
workforce in 2007, but the number of women news directors reached an all-time
high of 28.3 percent. Furthermore, women are as likely to be found as news
directors in the largest markets as in the smallest, something that has not been
the case in the past.
In radio, the picture for
women was not as good. The percentage of women fell again in 2007 from 24.4
percent to 22.7 percent. The percentage among news directors also fell back to
the 2005 levels of 20 percent after rising to 23.5 percent in
2006.
“As thousands of
journalists of color gather for the quadrennial UNITY convention, I’m pleased we
are still seeing progress in diversity in electronic newsrooms,” said
Barbara Cochran,
RTNDA president. “There is still more to be done to help newsrooms keep pace
with the growing diversity of the
U.S. population and RTNDA will
continue to provide resources and share best practices to assist with those
efforts.”
RTNDA published the survey
in the July/August issue of Communicator, RTNDA’s monthly magazine.
Resources
Methodology
The
RTNDA/Hofstra University Survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2007
among all 1,647 operating, non-satellite television stations and a random sample
of 2,000 radio stations. Valid responses came from 1,241 television stations
(75.3 percent) and 138 radio news directors and general managers representing
271 radio stations. Data for women TV news directors are from a complete census
and are not projected from a smaller sample.
About RTNDA
RTNDA is the world’s largest professional organization
devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTNDA represents local and network journalists in
broadcasting, cable and other electronic media in more than 30 countries. Along
with the Radio and Television News
Directors Foundation, RTNDA sponsors scholarships, fellowships, training
seminars, mentoring programs and more as part of its diversity
efforts.
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