Study Scrutinizes Minority Employment in Radio News

The percentage of minorities working in local radio news was up last year, according to figures from the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
The minority workforce rose to 11.6 percent in 2003, compared with 6.5 percent in 2002, based on the 2004 RTNDA/Ball State University Annual Survey. It was 8 percent the year before that.
Association President Barbara Cochran said the level of diversity was better but “there is still a great deal of room for improvement. The percentage of people of color in newsrooms has not increased for a decade, while the American population is steadily becoming more diverse.”
Minorities comprised 21.8 percent of local TV news staffs in 2003, compared with 18.1 percent in 2002 and 20.6 percent in 2001. The percentage of minority TV news directors is 12.5 percent, compared with 6.6 percent last year.
In radio, the percentage of minority news directors rose from 5 to 8 percent.
The percentage of women in radio news dipped to 22.4 percent in 2003 from 24 percent in 2002, but the percentage of women radio news directors increased to 25.9 percent from 14.4 percent.
Info: www.rtnda.org/diversity/Diversity2004.pdf