How Ethnically
Diverse Are Journalists at Bay Area Newspapers?
In the Bay Area, the journalists
at the Mercury News most closely resemble
the communities they serve in terms of race
and ethnicity, according to a study released
by The American Society of Newspaper Editors
(ASNE) in April.
But even at the Mercury,
the proportion of editors, reporters, columnists
and photographers who identify as members of
racial or ethnic minority groups--33.2%--fell
well short of parity. The Mercury’s
circulation area is 52% minority.
(The nine-county Bay Area is
extraordinarily diverse—fully half identified
themselves on the 2000 Census as either Latino
or non-white.)
ASNE ranked 935 newspapers across
the nation which responded to its 26th annual
employment census. For each paper it created
a “diversity index” by comparing
the percentage of minority journalists to the
percentage of minority residents of each paper’s
circulation area. The result is a percent of
parity, with the goal being 100 percent.
The Mercury’s
index, 64% of parity, led the region by far.
Among Bay Area dailies, the
Marin Independent Journal ranked second,
at 52% of parity. The Contra Costa Times
and associated newspapers took third, with 41%
of parity between newsroom and community served.
The area’s largest paper,
the San Francisco Chronicle, reached
35% of parity in 2002 when the survey was conducted.
Even so, it beat the Los Angeles Times,
which reached 33% of parity.
The Oakland Tribune
reached only 26% of parity. Other MediaNews
papers also lagged—the Freemont Argus
at 21%, Tri-Valley Herald at 11% and
Hayward Daily Review at just 9% of parity. Only
the Santa Cruz Sentinel had a lower
score, at 8% of parity.
The Press Democrat
in Santa Rosa did not respond to the ASNE survey.
The members of the ASNE had
set a goal of parity with the communities theyserved
by 2000. However, by 2002 minority representation
in American daily papers had reached only 12.5%
while 31% of Americans now identify as members
of minority groups—Hispanics, African-Americans,
Asian-Americans, Native Americans or some other
race or combination
American journalists working
at daily newspapers are now projected by the
ASNE as 5.33% African American, 4.04% Hispanic,
2.62% Asian-American and 0.53% Native American.
Women, of all ethnicities, comprise 37.05% of
this workforce.
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