Indian.
ASNE began conducting the annual survey in 1978 in an effort to measure the industry’s success in recruiting and retaining journalists of color so that the percent of minorities in newsrooms would be representative of the general population and the communities that newspapers cover. ASNE’s decision to conduct the survey came on the 10th anniversary of the well-known federal Kerner Commission declaration, which stated that the poor coverage of inner-city communities facing riots and upheaval at the time was because of a shortage of minority journalists in newsrooms across the nation. This was something many journalists of color had been saying for some time.
Pamela B. Fine, chair of ASNE’s Diversity Committee and former managing editor of the Indianapolis Star, says that many of the editors she knows wish the numbers of minority journalists were higher given the loss of newsroom jobs, but that some seemed to have found solace in the report because the percentage of journalists of color in newspaper newsrooms has increased slightly year over year.
Fine, who recently took a position as the Knight Chair in News, Leadership and Community at the University of Kansas’ William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, says part of ASNE’s efforts to help recruit and retain minority journalists in the industry come through its extensive high school journalism initiative and its training seminars for professionals.
“We need journalists from all backgrounds to ensure we’re fulfilling our public service role and to accurately reflect what’s going on in people’s lives,” Fine says.
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