Meanwhile, the American Society of Newspaper Editors 26^th annual Newsroom Census showed that news staffs grew slightly with a net gain of about 300 journalists after a recession-driven loss of nearly 2,000 jobs in 2001. Current newsroom employment is 55,000.

The annual census also found that the number of newspapers with no minorities dropped by nearly 100 newspapers. The numbers dropped from 471 papers to 373 papers this year. That means that 60 percent of daily newspapers responding to the survey had minority staffers.

The gain in overall diversity staffing was the second successive increase of nearly a half a percentage point. But the total percentage fell three percentage points short of every three-year benchmarks set by ASNE to chart newsrooms’ progress toward the goal of parity of newsrooms with their communities by 2025.

Year-over-year the gain by Asian Americans was greatest among the minority groups, growing by 152 journalists to 2.62 percent. African Americans have the largest total number in newsrooms at 5.33 percent. The details

"In the midst of budget cutbacks over the last two years, diversity is a survivor," said Diane H. McFarlin, ASNE president. "That's something to celebrate. Looking ahead, though, we have a lot of work to do to quicken the pace of progress."

Highlights of the 2003 Survey:

• Minorities account for 9.9 percent of all supervisors in newsrooms. Nineteen percent of all minorities were supervisors, a slight decrease from last year.
• For the first time this year ASNE reported on the number of newspapers that achieved parity with their communities. The result is that 134 newspapers have met or exceeded parity.

Other findings:

• Internships: The number of minority interns declined along with the percentage of minority interns which now stands at 30.6, down from 31.1 percent.
• Where do minorities work: Nearly two-thirds of all minority journalists continue to work at papers with circulations exceeding 100,000.
• Women: The percentage of women in daily newsrooms again declined slightly from 37.05 percent to 36.86. ASNE started tracking the number and percentage of women three years ago. Then the percentage was 37.35.
  • Women on daily newspaper staffs total 20,168 a net increase of seven from last year. The number of white women declined by a net of 204 and the number of minority women increased by 212.
  • In the past three years, the number of white women in newsrooms has declined by 1,088 while the number of minority women has increased by 195. Minority women make up 15.8 percent of daily newspaper staffs, an increase of one percentage point from a year ago.
  • Men on daily newspaper staffs total 34,550, a net increase of 297. Minority men number 3,652 or 10.57 percent. Virtually the same as last year.
  • "Any time we can report even small progress on the diversity front that is good news," said Gregory L. Moore, editor of The Denver Post and chair of ASNE’s Diversity Committee. "Obviously we need to achieve bigger gains. We have much work to do as an industry to reach our goal of parity by 2025. It is going to require our best thinking and the most aggressive solutions available."

For complete tables, click here. For a list of participating newspapers and their percentages, click here.

The numbers have also been analyzed by Bill Dedman for the Knight Foundation. Find his analysis here.

ASNE’s Diversity Mission

Increasing diversity in U.S. newspaper newsrooms has been a primary ASNE mission since 1978. The Society has been an industry leader in helping newspapers better reflect their communities. It serves as an information clearinghouse and provides career information to aspiring journalists. The Society sponsors a variety of initiatives and projects, including job fairs directed at young journalists of color and seminars for editors on the changing demographics of the U.S.

ASNE’s initial survey in 1978 revealed that minority journalists comprised 3.95 percent of the total newsroom workforce (1,700 out of 43,000). The survey is a tool ASNE uses to measure the success of its goal of having the percentage of minorities working in newsrooms nationwide equal to the percentage of minorities in the nation's population by 2025. Currently minorities make up 31 percent of the U.S. population.

Census procedures

For the 2003 ASNE newsroom employment census, 935 of the 1423 daily newspapers responded to the survey, representing 65.71 percent of all U.S. dailies. The census is based on employment data reported by daily newspapers.

The survey data are projected to reflect all daily newspapers in the country. Editors participating in the survey agree to publish the percentage of newsroom employees who are minorities. A list of newspapers with their percentages follows the summary and tables.

The data from newspapers that returned the survey are used to project the numbers for nonresponding newspapers in the same circulation range. An ASNE follow-up test of nonresponding newspapers found their employment of minorities closely resembles newspapers in their circulation categories that respond to the survey. The survey figures reported above are weighted in this way to reflect all daily newspapers. ASNE has implemented internal monitoring procedures to ensure the consistency and credibility of the employment data. Moreover, because the survey procedures remain constant each year, the ASNE census provides highly reliable year-to-year comparisons.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors, with more than 800 members, is an organization of the main editors of daily newspapers throughout the Americas. Founded in 1922, ASNE is active in a number of areas of interest to top editors with priorities on improving the diversity, readership and credibility of newspapers.