RTNDA to expand survey on minorities in broadcast industry
By Cheryl Arvidson
The Freedom Forum Online
08.16.00
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WASHINGTON — The Radio-Television News Directors Association
has decided to report the number of Hispanic journalists working in mainstream
television newsrooms as a separate statistic from a broader number that
includes Spanish-language television stations in future annual surveys on
minority employment in the broadcast industry.
The action comes in response to concerns raised by the
National Association of Hispanic
Journalists, which told the RTNDA that including the Spanish-language
stations in the newsroom employment figures gave a "misleading" picture of the
presence of Latino journalists in broadcast newsrooms.
In a letter to NAHJ President Cecilia Alvear dated Aug. 4, Robert
Garcia, chairman of the RTNDA, wrote, "We fully understand the motivation
behind the request (for separate statistics). As an Hispanic journalist working
in the so-called 'mainstream' media for the past 23 years, I am personally
acutely aware of the issues of under-representation of people of color in the
nation's newsrooms.
"In addition to the traditional newsroom survey, which is one of the
longest-running baseline studies of its kind, we would be more than happy to
break out and publish the figures you request," Garcia continued. "We intend to
make those statistics available on the RTNDA web site immediately. In the
future, we will include those breakouts in reporting the results of the
survey."
The RTNDA earlier had released the statistics requested by the NAHJ
for this year's survey but had not revised its official survey report. The
additional statistics, reported by
The Freedom Forum Online in July, showed a
much less diverse workplace than originally indicated.
Without the Hispanics who work at Telemundo and Univision stations,
the percentage of Hispanic news directors at broadcast outlets dropped from 9%
to 4%. The percentage of Latino workers in local television newsrooms dropped
from 7% to 4% when the Spanish-language stations were excluded, and the overall
minority employment dropped from 21% to 18%.
Nancy Baca, the immediate past president of NAHJ, made the request of
the RTNDA. In a letter, Baca said without the changes, "we are afraid that many
industry leaders may believe the number of Latinos working for English-language
stations is actually 7 percent."
"That would be misleading," Baca said. "We believe it is important for
the industry to be clear on the actual statistics in order to address the
under-representation of Latinos in the newsroom."
Previous
RTNDA expands survey to show fewer Latinos working at mainstream stations
Hispanic journalists ask group to release data on broadcast news employment without Spanish-language stations included.
07.17.00
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