Little movement among minorities

by Bob Papper

 

 

After strong growth the year before, minority employment in local TV news eased back from 22.2 percent to 21.5 percent.  African Americans rose while all other minority groups went down.

 

Non-Hispanic TV news departments mirror those results.  Overall, there was a decrease in minorities of one percent, with African Americans and Native Americans going up and Hispanics and Asian Americans dropping. 

 

The percentage of minorities in radio news slid to the lowest point in the last 13 years: 6.2 percent, just below last year's rate of 6.4 percent.

 

Minority TV news directors also dropped from 13.2 percent to 10.9 percent, but the percentage of minority radio news directors soared to 12 percent -- nearly triple the year before.

 

The RTNDA Survey research necessarily involves projecting figures for the industry based on the news directors who participate.  Not surprisingly, the stations returning the survey vary from year to year.  That's not a problem for most of the data, but because most ethnic groups are more likely to be found in specific areas of the country, ethnicity is at least partly based on geography.  That's why we work at making sure that we have a good balance across the country.  Even so, participation from certain markets and certain cities can make a noticeable difference in the ethnicity data from year to year.

 

That appears to be what happened with Hispanics this year.  Fewer stations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Tucson (along with Louisville and Charlotte) filled out the ethnic breakdown on the survey or didn't return the survey at all.  That appears to have led to the apparent drop in both Hispanics and Asian Americans. 

 

Julio Moran, executive director of the California Chicano News Media Association, said he was "surprised" by the apparent drop in Hispanics.  He said that, if anything, he sees a growth in interest among Hispanic students -- at least in Los Angeles -- and steady or higher numbers of Hispanics in the major markets of California. 

 

Jose Rios, vice president of news at KTTV and KCOP-TV in Los Angeles said he's seen no decrease at his stations. 

 

That was also true at KBAK-TV in Bakersfield, CA.  News director Meaghan St. Pierre said she just lost an Hispanic reporter to an entertainment show, but she's seen no drop in overall numbers or in Hispanic job applicants.  Geoff Roth, news director at KMPH-TV in Fresno, CA also says he hasn't seen any drop or recruitment problems.  He says he's in a market that's about half Hispanic with a staff that's 40 - 50 percent Hispanic.  Given the market, he says he has no problem in recruitment.

 

Jim Boyle, news director at KSAT-TV in San Antonio, TX, said much the same.  He also said he was "surprised" by a report of a drop in Hispanics.  He says that his numbers haven't changed, and he gets lots of Hispanic applicants, even from larger markets -- people from the San Antonio area who want to come home.  

 

Still, Anzio Williams, news director at KCRA-TV in Sacramento, said the number of Hispanics in his newsroom aren't "where they should be."  It's not that he's lost Hispanics, he said, but that the numbers need to be bigger -- especially behind the scenes -- to better reflect the growing Hispanic community.

 

Darrell Adams, news director at WBBH-TV and WZVN-TV in Ft. Myers, FL, says recruiting and retaining Hispanics is "rough -- no doubt about it."  Adams said he recently lost one Hispanic who left the business and another who moved closer to home in Texas.  He also wasn't able to hire an anchor recruit who wanted to be closer to his home in Texas as well.  He says he sees "very few Hispanic applicants."  Hispanics make up about 11 percent of his area -- and growing -- so he's now looking at recruiting local Hispanics, training them and "growing their own."

 

Regardless, the bigger picture remains unchanged.  In the last 17 years, the minority population in the U.S. has risen 8.6 percent; the minority workforce in TV news is up less than four percent, and the minority workforce in radio is down more than four percent. 

 

 

Minority Population v. Minority Broadcast Workforce

 

 

2007

2006

2005

2000

1995

1990

Minority Population in U.S.

34.5%

33.6%

33.2%

30.9%

27.9%

25.9%

Minority TV Workforce

21.5

22.2

21.2

21.0

17.1

17.8

Minority Radio Workforce

6.2

6.4

7.9

10.0

14.7

10.8

 

Broadcast News Work Force … Television

 

 

2007

2006

2005

2000

1995

Caucasian

78.5%

77.8%

78.8%

79.0%

82.9%

African American

10.1

9.5

10.3

11.0

10.1

Hispanic

8.7

9.6

8.7

7.0

4.2

Asian American

2.3

2.7

1.9

3.0

2.2

Native American

0.4

0.5

0.3

<1.0

0.6

 

Broadcast News Work Force … Radio

 

 

2007

2006

2005

2000

1995

Caucasian

93.8%

93.6%

92.1%

90%

85.3%

African American

3.3

2.5

0.7

5

5.7

Hispanic

0.7

1.9

6.0

3

7.5

Asian American

1.1

1.8

0.7

1

0.6

Native American

1.1

0.2

0.5

1

1.0

 

 

In TV, African Americans rose just over half a percent; Asian Americans were down 0.4 percent, Native Americans slid by just 0.1 percent, and Hispanics dropped 0.9 percent. 

 

Among non-Hispanic stations, the minority workforce fell to 19.4 percent -- down one percent from a year ago.  At non-Hispanic stations, the minority break down is:

  • 10.4 percent African American
  • 6.2 percent Hispanic
  • 2.3 percent Asian American
  • 0.5 percent Native American.   

Overall, 90.9 percent of the TV news workforce at Hispanic stations are Hispanic.  Another 7.7 percent are white, 1.1 percent Asian American and 0.4 percent African American.

 

Men outnumber women for all ethnic groups except Asian Americans.  There are 15 percent more African American men than women; almost 42 percent more Hispanic men than women; 50 percent more Native American men as women; and just over 64 percent more white men than women.  But there are almost 56 percent more Asian American women as men.

 

In radio, the picture was mixed.  The percentage of African Americans and Native Americans went up while the percentage of Hispanics and Asian Americans fell.

 

 

Broadcast News Directors … Television - 2007

 

 

2007

2006

2005

2000

1995

Caucasian

89.1%

86.8%

88.0%

86%

92.1%

African American

2.0

4.2

3.9

3

1.6

Hispanic

7.2

6.0

5.8

9

3.8

Asian American

1.0

1.2

1.3

2

1.5

Native American

0.7

1.8

1.0

<1

1.0

 

Broadcast News Directors … Radio - 2007

 

 

2007

2006

2005

2000

1995

Caucasian

88.0%

95.6%

89.0%

94%

91.4%

African American

4.4

1.9

0.0

3

5.4

Hispanic

3.8

1.3

8.8

2

2.4

Asian American

1.9

0.6

0

0

0

Native American

1.9

0.6

2.2

1

0.8

 

 

In TV, all minority news director groups fell except Hispanics, which rose by 1.2 percent.  Asian American news directors edged down by 0.2 percent, but African American and Native American news directors each dropped by more than half.

 

In TV, minority news directors were most commonly found in the biggest markets (23.3 percent) and least often in the smallest markets (at 4.1 percent).  But minority news directors were also most likely to be in the smallest news departments, rising from 5.3 percent at the biggest stations (51+ staffers) up to 21.4 percent at stations with 10 or fewer newspeople.  Minority news directors were most commonly found in the South (16.1 percent) and West (13.1 percent) as opposed to the Northeast (5.7 percent) or Midwest (4.7 percent).

 

At non-Hispanic stations, the minority percentage of TV news directors fell to 6.5 percent from last year's 8.6 percent.  Hispanic news directors at non-Hispanic stations almost doubled from 1.3 percent a year ago to 2.5 percent this year -- making them the largest minority group of news directors at non-Hispanic stations.  African Americans fell from last year's 4.2 percent to this year's 2.2 percent.  Asian Americans slid from 1.3 to 1.1 percent, and Native Americans dropped from 1.9 percent to 0.7 percent. 

 

Every minority group of radio news directors rose.  In fact, Asian Americans and Native Americans more than tripled; Hispanics nearly tripled from the year before, and African Americans more than doubled.  Of course, we receive a much smaller sample of radio surveys than TV survey, and the stations responding change each year.  Without wider radio participation, these swings in numbers are likely to continue.

 

Minority news directors were more likely to be at commercial stations than non-commercial and least likely in the smallest markets and in the Midwest.

 

Women in Local TV News - 2007

 

 

News Staffs

With Women

Women News

Directors

Women as

Percentage of

Work Force

Average

Number of

Women on Staff

All Television

97.7%

26.3%

39.9%

13.6

Network Affiliates

100.0

23.6

40.0

14.6

Independents

100.0

0

37.0

10.0

DMA 1-25

96.0

27.3

38.1

17.6

DMA 26-50

93.5

17.4

39.1

18.0

DMA 51-100

98.2

22.7

39.5

17.1

DMA 101-150

98.5

24.4

40.8

10.4

DMA 151+

100.0

26.0

43.5

8.0

Staff 51+

100.0

19.0

39.7

27.8

Staff 31-50

100.0

20.0

39.2

15.2

Staff 21-30

100.0

24.6

39.2

10.0

Staff 11-20

100.0

26.1

44.5

7.1

Staff   1-10

79.2

33.3

43.7

2.6

 

 

There have been no significant changes in women in TV news in years, and the most recent figures represent more of the same.  Women have been at about 40 percent of the TV news workforce for almost a decade.  They continue at around a quarter of the TV news directors, although this year's number is the second-highest level ever -- just behind the record of 26.5 percent set in 2003.  As with minorities, women news directors are found in increasing percentages as the size of the newsroom drops.

 

ABC affiliates were less likely to have female news directors than other network affiliates (17.1 percent for ABC versus an average of 26 percent for the others).  We found no female news directors at independent stations.  Overall, geography made little difference for the gender of TV news directors, although women news directors were a little more common in the West than elsewhere.

 

Women in Local Radio News - 2007

 

 

News Staffs

With Women

Women

News Directors

Women as

Percentage of

Work Force

Average

Number of

Women on Staff

All Radio

36.2%

23.5%

24.4%

0.6

Major Market

60.0

33.3

27.7

1.2

Large Market

40.0

16.1

18.8

0.5

Medium Market

39.5

29.0

29.1

0.6

Small Market

25.0

19.0

18.6

0.3

 

 

The percentages for women in the radio news work force are largely unchanged from what they’ve been.  The percentage of women radio news directors rose from last year’s 20.4 percent to this year’s 23.5 percent.  All market sizes rose except large markets.  Generally, the larger the staff, the greater the likelihood of a female news director, but there was no consistent relationship based on the number of stations or market size.  Women news directors were a little more likely at group-owned stations than independents and more likely in the South than elsewhere in the country.

 

There was a significantly higher percentage of women in commercial radio (24.7 percent) than non-commercial radio (18.8 percent).   

 

Major markets are those with 1 million or more listeners.  Large markets are from 250,000 to 1 million.  Medium markets are 50,000 to 250,000.  Small markets are fewer than 50,000.

 

Minorities in Local TV News - 2007

 

 

News Staffs

With Minorities

Minority News

Directors

Minorities as

Percentage of

Work Force

Average Number of Minorities on Staff

All Television

90.6%

10.9%

21.5%

7.5

Network Affiliates

92.2

6.2

19.6

7.4

Independents

100.0

33.3

13.2

2.3

DMA 1-25

94.4

23.3

32.5

15.0

DMA 26-50

92.5

8.7

23.3

11.7

DMA 51-100

91.3

11.3

18.6

7.9

DMA 101-150

86.7

9.5

18.0

4.7

DMA 151+

91.8

4.1

15.5

2.9

Staff 51+

100.0

5.3

23.0

16.3

Staff 31-50

96.4

10.1

20.8

8.1

Staff 21-30

91.8

10.3

21.1

5.5

Staff 11-20

87.2

15.9

18.1

3.0

Staff   1-10

60.7

21.4

32.9

2.0

 

 

There was little difference among network affiliates, although Fox stations were a little more diverse at 22.1 percent versus 19.1 percent for the other network affiliates.  Independents were the least diverse at 13.2 percent minority.  Stations in the South (28.2 percent minority) and West (25.9 percent) were more diverse than stations in the Northeast (16.8 percent) or Midwest (11.2 percent). 

 

Overall, the concentration of blacks was highest in the South (13.8 percent) and lowest in the West (4.7 percent).  Hispanics were highest in the West (14.0 percent), just edging out the South (12.4 percent) and least likely in the Northeast (5.7 percent) and Midwest (1.6 percent).  Asian Americans were most heavily concentrated in the West (6.6 percent), where the population was fairly evenly split between men and women versus all other geographic areas at an average 1.4 percent and with women outnumbering men by a 2:1 ratio.  Native Americans were highest in the West (0.7 percent) and the South (0.6 percent) and lowest in the Midwest (0.2 percent) and nothing showed up in the Northeast.   

 

Minorities in Local Radio News - 2007

 

 

News Staffs

With Minorities

Minority

News Directors

Minorities as

Percentage of

Work Force

Average

Number of

Minorities on Staff

All Radio

11.7%

12.0%

6.2%

0.1

Major Market

20.0

13.3

6.4

0.3

Large Market

30.0

14.3

9.4

0.3

Medium Market

13.2

14.8

6.4

0.1

Small Market

2.8

7.4

4.7

0.1

 

 

There were more minorities at independent stations than group owned (8.5 percent versus 5.4 percent), and more in the South and less in the West. 

 

TV General Managers - 2007

 

 

Percent Caucasian

Percent Minority

Percent Men

Percent Women

All Television

93.6%

6.4%

84.2%

15.8%

Network Affiliates

96.7

3.3

84.2

15.8

Independents

100.0

0

100.0

0

DMA 1-25

77.8

22.2

86.5

13.5

DMA 26-50

92.5

7.5

72.5

27.5

DMA 51-100

98.1

1.9

85.7

14.3

DMA 101-150

95.5

4.5

85.5

14.5

DMA 151+

100.0

0

89.5

10.5

 

 

The percentage of women GMs at stations that run local news edged up from 15.2 to 15.8 percent.  Women GMs were least likely to be found in the very smallest (151+) markets.  There were less than half as many women GMs in the Northeast as any other part of the country.  Fox stations (25.9 percent) were much more likely to have female general managers than other network affiliates (14.3 percent). 

 

The percentage of minority general managers at TV stations that run local news dropped slightly from last year (7.1 percent down to 6.4 percent).  Only 3.6 percent of non-Hispanic stations had minority general managers.  Almost 90 percent of those GMs were African American; the rest were Asian Americans. 

 

Overall, minority GMs were most likely in markets 1-25, but that was mostly Hispanic stations.  The greatest percentage of minority general managers were in the smallest stations and in the West. 

 

Radio General Managers – 2007

 

 

Percent Caucasian

Percent Minority

Percent Men

Percent Women

All Radio

94.5%

5.5%

79.7%

20.3%

 

 

At radio stations that run local news, female general managers were more common at non-commercial and independent stations and least often found in the Northeast.

 

Minority general managers were twice as likely to be found at non-commercial stations than commercial ones and three times as likely to be found at independent stations than group-owned.  Minority GMs were also more often found in the South and West than the Northeast and Midwest.

 

The percentage of minority general managers at radio stations rose for the first time in several years, up from last year's 2.5 percent to this year's 5.5 percent. 

 

Bob Papper is professor of journalism at Hofstra University and has worked extensively in radio and TV news.  Data entry and tabulation were done by the Bureau of Business Research at Ball State University.  This research was supported by the Department of Telecommunications at Ball State University and the Radio Television News Directors Association.  This fall, the research becomes the RTNDA/Hofstra University Annual Survey. 

 

 

About the Survey

 

The RTNDA/Ball State University Survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2006 among all 1,596 operating, non-satellite television stations and all 11,942 radio stations for which we could gather complete data.  Valid responses came from 974 television stations (50.9 percent) and 225 radio news directors and general managers representing 740 radio stations.  Data for women TV news directors are from a complete census and are not projected from a smaller sample.