The effect of #JournalismSoWhite
Journalists of color work to overcome lack of diversity in media despite stagnant statistics
For the second year in a row, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences snubbed minority actors and actresses in their 2016 Academy Award nomination process.
April Reign, managing editor of BroadwayBlack.com, who created #OscarsSoWhite on Twitter in 2015, began using the hashtag again to tweet her disdain at the lack of diversity in the nominations within the four major acting categories on January 14.
The media went into a frenzy writing stories and curating content about the hashtag, helping #OscarsSoWhite, along with a boycott incited by actress Jada Pinkett Smith, overshadow the awards ceremony, which had its lowest viewership ratings in eight years.
As controversy over the lack of diversity at the Oscars brewed, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas asked his Twitter followers, “Since we're discussing #OscarsSoWhite, can we add #JournalismSoWhite?”
Vargas tweeted that newsrooms are less diverse in 2016 than when he began his career in 1999 – data supports his statement.
Newsroom diversity statistics hover between 12 and 14 percent
The number of full-time journalists working at daily newspapers across the United States has fallen significantly in the last decade.
The amount dropped dramatically from 36,700 in 2014 to 32,900 in 2015, according to the American Society of News Editors 2015 Census (ASNE). About 4,200 of those employed, or 12.76 percent of the 32,900, are minorities.
The ASNE states, “The percentage of minority journalists has hovered between 12 and 14 percent for more than a decade.”
The numbers in radio, television and digital journalism have not made significant changes for minority journalists either, according to the latest Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA)/Hofstra University Annual Survey.
“In the last 25 years, the minority population in the U.S. has risen 11.5 points; but the minority workforce in TV news is up less than half that (4.4), and the minority workforce in radio is actually down by a full point,” the RTDNA survey states.
The economy’s effect on the number of minority journalists being hired
Benét Wilson, a trade journalist and founder and editor-in-chief of Aviation Queen LLC, says there are several factors at play on why the number of journalists of color working in newsrooms has not risen across the country – one of the major issues being the economy.
“Diversity in newsrooms is still a big issue and a struggle,” said Wilson. “There have been a lot of cuts and layoffs of all journalists, but it has hit the minority journalists especially hard.”
Wilson says legacy media companies are constantly reinventing their business models in order to compete with new online/digital media companies and executives at startups tend to hire those who look like them, which does not often include minority journalists.
This has caused many journalists of color to look elsewhere for job opportunities or leave the industry altogether.
“I know people in the industry who are struggling to stay in the industry and I also know people who have left because they have just gotten tired and they’ve gone and done other things,” Wilson said.
Are minority journalists really not applying for job opportunities?
Many industry executives and those in hiring positions seem to share a common sentiment that minority journalists simply are not applying for jobs in journalism and media, which writer Gwen Moran said is “baloney” in a 2015 article for Fortune.
Jim McFarlin, a freelance writer and editor who has been in the industry for 40 years, says he does not want to mention that race may play a role in why minorities are not getting hired at the same rate as white journalists.
“I think the number of people of color who are either enrolled in or studying or want to pursue careers in journalism has actually increased, but for reasons I don’t want to suggest have anything to do with the big ‘R’ word – we’re not getting hired as much,” McFarlin said.
Alex T. Williams, a PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania who studies media trends, negated the belief that minority journalists are not applying for jobs in a 2015 study for the Columbia Journalism Review.
After analyzing the enrollment rates of minority journalism and communication majors at nearly 458 colleges and universities across the country, he found that: “only 49 percent of minority graduates that specialized in print or broadcasting found a full-time job, compared to 66 percent of white graduates” in 2013.
In the study, Alex Williams states journalism graduates of color are not getting hired at the same rate as their white counterparts because they are less likely to write for campus newspapers, are financially unable to pursue unpaid internship opportunities and they do not network as often.
Experts offer advice for young journalists of color
Tolleah Price, a producer at the soon-to-be shut down Al Jazeera America (AJAM), says networking and having a mentor advocate on her behalf has helped her move up quickly in her career, which spans over 12 years.
“Of course, your work can be an advocate for you and you can be an advocate for yourself, but you definitely need that voice who’s already in there to say, ‘This person can do the job, let’s give them a chance,’” Price said.
As of February 10, the mother of two is unsure what her next job will be after leaving AJAM, but hopes to stay at home with her son in the meantime.
Wilson and McFarlin offer similar advice to young journalists of color, stating the importance of networking, joining the staff on campus newspapers, gaining necessary internship experience, working harder and smarter, as well as being persistent.
“It is imperative for them to network. They need to go to conventions – not just NABJ or NAHJ or AAJA, but they need to go to other conventions . . . and network with people that don’t look like you,” Wilson said.
Will media reach its diversity goals in the future?
At American University (AU) in Washington, D.C., graduating senior journalism major Brianna Williams is on the right track to success as a young journalist of color.
As president and founder of the AU Chapter of the Association of Black Journalists, Brianna Williams is currently an intern at CSN Mid-Atlantic and she already has several freelance writing credits under her belt – all after only four years of college.
Upon graduation in May, Brianna Williams plans to attend graduate school and hopes to continue to excel in journalism at a company where she will be able to express her own point of view fairly
.“Hopefully, I’ll be able to just get involved as much as I can and make a difference and write about things that matter,” she said. “If I have to be the female voice or the black voice, hopefully I can do it justice.”
Brianna Williams was accepted into her top choice of journalism graduate school programs on March 2.
* * *
The future of diversity in newsrooms across the country may improve as the issue continues to gain notoriety in the media and if news media companies work diligently to become more inclusive in hiring.
Award-winning journalist, Richard Prince, who covered media diversity in his “Journal-isms” column for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education for more than 13 years before losing funding on February 17, says diversity-based hiring standards in news media begins with leadership.
“In terms of diversifying the staff, I think it takes an effort from the top and a commitment to just get it done,” Prince said.
Vargas recently created a crowdfunding campaign called #EmergingUS that he hopes will change the predominantly white face of media to a diverse one in the future.
###