Annual census documents shrinking newsroom

For the first time, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) has joined forces with American Society of News Editors (ASNE)  to collect and analyze data for their annual census.

This year’s census found that while newsroom employment declined by 10.4 percent the percentage of minority journalists remained stable at 12.6 percent. In addition, 63 percent of news organizations reported having at least one woman among their top three editors. However, the number of minority leaders has dropped by 3 percentage points, with 12 percent of participating organizations saying at least one of their top three editors is a person of color. 

“It is a great honor for us to collaborate with ASNE to conduct the prestigious national survey for the first time,” said Yu Liu, assistant professor at SJMC, and principal investigator on the project. “We are excited to be part of the research that helps better understand the nature of the news industry with regard to diversity issues.”

The percentage of minority journalists has hovered between 12 and 14 percent for more than a decade. In 1978, when ASNE launched its Newsroom Employment Census of professional full-time journalists, 3.95 percent were minorities. A list of newspapers with their percentages is available here. This was the second year the questions about women and minorities in leadership were asked.

“ASNE understands the importance of reporting on an increasingly diverse America and is committed to finding new ways to ensure that diverse voices and perspectives are reflected in traditional and digital media,” said ASNE President Chris Peck, associate editor of The Riverton Ranger in Wyoming.

Overall, the survey found, there are about 32,900 full-time journalists at nearly 1,400 daily newspapers in the United States. That’s a 3,800-person decrease from 36,700 in 2013. Of those 32,900 employees, about 4,200, or 12.76 percent, are racial minorities. That’s a 0.58 percent decrease from last year’s 13.34 percent despite the substantially smaller newsroom employment in 2014. See detailed tables that display all the relevant numbers from this and past years’ census data.

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation provided the funding for this year’s census and has funded the project since the 2012 census. The census was previously conducted by the University of Missouri.

For the complete study results please click here.