Research: Minorities In Newsroom Slide, Women Gain

Women and minorities research highlights:

• Mixed minority numbers in TV
• Mostly down minority numbers in radio
• Record numbers of women in TV and women in TV news leadership

The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey finds the minority workforce in TV news slid 0.2 to 22.2%... still the third highest level ever. And the minority workforce at non-Hispanic TV stations rose this year to the third highest level ever as well.

 The minority workforce in radio fell back from last year's high. The minority workforce in radio fell by 3.2... with all minority groups dropping except Asian Americans. The biggest fall came among Hispanic/Latino. Non-commercial stations did a little better in diversity than commercial ones, but the differences weren't large. The bigger the market, the more diverse the radio news staff.

In TV, women news directors and women in the workforce both rose to the highest levels ever. The picture for women in radio news was more mixed.

Still, as far as minorities are concerned, the bigger picture remains unchanged. In the last 25 years, the minority population in the U.S. has risen 11.5 points; but the minority workforce in TV news is up less than half that (4.4), and the minority workforce in radio is actually down by a full point.

Women TV news directors edged up from last year's record high 30.8% to a new record of 31%.    At 42.3%, women are at the highest percentage of the TV news work force ever.

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