‘Last hired, first fired’ maxim often adversely affects journalists of color and women.

As the nation’s economy takes a tumble to who knows where, it should come as no surprise that the news industry is suffering along with other U.S. businesses. The ripple effects are also starting to show in journalism education programs around the country. And, as has often been the case, the effects upon people of color are being felt in profound ways.

The weakening economy has revived a maxim known all too well by minorities in the work force: “last hired, first fired.” But in the latest version of that truism, it would be more accurate to state that the last hired will be the first to be laid off. This has become especially true among news organizations that are governed by union rules; rules that protect those with the greatest seniority. And those with seniority are generally White males.

While it is understandable that unions would impose such a rule, the perhaps unintended consequences are that those who were hired under aggressive and necessary affirmative action policies would be the ones with the least amount of seniority. Hence, the younger media professionals with the least amount of tenure are often journalists of color and women.

In their efforts to stem the tide of rising costs and diminishing profits, media managers and administrators have naturally looked to a reduction in force to maintain the stability of their enterprises. News organizations have gone into a full survival mode with more work being distributed among smaller staffs. As a result, many younger journalists of color find themselves facing a challenging future in which they will be the first victims of staff reductions. Those that manage to hang on to their positions are usually employed at nonunion shops where the lower salaries earned by younger staffers saves them temporarily from the axe of budget reductions.

These grim prospects come in the face of the latest figures from the American Society of Newspaper Editors in their annual survey of newsroom employment around the country. For the last three years, the growth of minority employment has slowed to a trickle. In the latest survey released this year, minority employment grew from 13.4 percent to 13.5 percent — a growth so small as to be insignificant.