Communication, training help keep journalists of color in newsrooms
By Catalina Camia
freedomforum.org
04.16.02
WASHINGTON — Marilyn Garateix is passionate about journalism but sometimes gets frustrated by the choices she makes to stay in the newsroom.
Garateix, vice president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, said at last week's American Society of Newspaper Editors conference that she found it difficult to balance her career and personal life. She lamented that editors sometimes don't listen to her or understand the challenges she faces as a Cuban-American. Garateix — like other journalists of color — said she wanted recognition and respect, but sometimes feels she doesn’t get either in the newsroom.
"Journalists of color want to be here and want to stay in this business," Garateix told the ASNE editors. "The question is not, 'Are we going to stay?' The question is, 'Can we stay and make a difference?' "
The retention of journalists of color was a key topic at ASNE's annual convention and was woven into several parts of the program.
Ron Brown, a diversity consultant who has worked with several Fortune 500 companies, shared tips from non-media companies on how to keep talent. Aissatou Sidime-David, a reporter at the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News who is African American, explained what compels her to stay in journalism during a "Keeper Moment" speech aimed at teaching editors what works when you want to keep the best.
A feature at ASNE was a panel discussion on retention, organized by Wanda Lloyd, executive director of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute in Nashville, Tenn. The discussion was sparked by last year's ASNE newsroom employment survey that showed, for the first time, that more journalists of color were leaving newspapers than being hired into the business.
Since 1989, 13 studies on topics related to retention have shown why journalists of color are more likely to leave the news business than their white counterparts. Journalists of color said lack of professional challenges and lack of opportunities would drive them away.
As newsrooms cut jobs because of declining advertising revenue, it is even more important to keep journalists of color in the news business, one news executive said during the ASNE panel.
"We need to stress in our own newsrooms the value of retention," said Phil Currie, senior vice president/news for Gannett Co., Inc. "We can't waver in times of economic stress. ... We must put real opportunities in front of minorities and assure staffers that their voices will be heard."
Milton Coleman, deputy managing editor of The Washington Post, said hiring, retention and news coverage were linked. To keep journalists of color from leaving the business, Coleman said, editors have to give them a say in what is covered while changing the definition of what is news.
Coleman said editors must respond to America's changing demographics by writing news that is important to new immigrants.
"We have to accept that those communities have news that is important to them but hasn't been important before to a staff that has not always been diverse," he said.
Over and over, panelists said communication between editors and journalists of color is key. Journalists of color say that includes understanding the pressures they face as minorities and listening and responding to their career goals.
Garateix, education editor at The Boston Globe, said her life as a journalist of color, woman, Cuban-American and even as a mid-level manager was not the same as white editors' and, especially, editors in upper management.
"For a business that requires us to ask questions, we ask very few questions of our employees," she said. "You hear things (from journalists of color) like, 'My editor doesn’t care.' "
Panelists and other newsroom leaders said one way to help keep blacks, Asians, Latinos and Native Americans in the news business was to train mid-level managers.
"Editors who don't listen, who are distant, who cavalierly dismiss ideas, shrink from confrontation or are parsimonious in praise are driving good people away," wrote Greg Moore, chairman of the ASNE Diversity Committee, in the April edition of The American Editor.
Coleman, the highest-ranking African-American at The Washington Post, told the ASNE audience that he often heard criticism from other blacks about how they are covered in the newspaper. Although he can explain and justify news decisions, Coleman said, he and other minorities are sometimes questioned about being tokens or losing their identity as people of color.
"A lot of minority reporters pay an incredible tax to be part of a mainstream newsroom," he said.
The panel on retention came a day after ASNE released its newsroom employment survey for 2002. News executives said they were relieved that the latest survey showed a net increase of four journalists of color working at daily newspapers. Minorities now make up 12.07% of the newsroom workforce. But slight gains are no reason to turn back from a commitment to retaining talent, panelists said.
"It is time for the choir to start singing," said Currie, noting that many editors in the audience already were committed to diversity.
Lloyd said later that she hoped editors who attended the panel were now more aware of why retention of journalists of color is a problem and had learned how to turn around the negative trend.
"Retention will become a bigger issue as young folks coming through the pipeline today face some of the same issues of professional development," she said. "This will have to be addressed one newsroom at a time, one editor at a time."