The American media that promotes diversity in politics, schools and jobs isn’t very inclusive.
In not taking a page from their own headlines, the news industry is 77 percent white and 61 percent male, according to the latest report from the Pew Research Center.
Overall, the U.S. workforce is 65 percent white, 53 percent male.
The numbers are similar to others taken by the industry itself. For example, according to Pew, “the American Society of News Editors in 2012-2015 estimated that newspaper employees were 87 percent-88 percent white, 63 percent-64 percent male, and 56 percent-57 percent white and male. Surveys by the Radio Television Digital News Association in 2012-2016 estimated that television newsroom staff were 77 percent-79 percent white and 56 percent-60 percent male, while radio newsroom staff were 87 percent-91 percent white and 61 percent-69 percent male.”
The numbers are jarring in the era of #MeToo and the industry’s effort to decry what it sees as racist taunts against blacks and Hispanics in politics.
“The disparity in race and ethnicity exists across all age groups. Non-Hispanic whites account for about three-fourths (74 percent) of newsroom employees ages 18 to 49, and they represent 85 percent among those 50 and older. These shares are lower among workers overall,” said Pew.
And as with American society, while the older workers retain their influence, the growth in younger newsroom journalists, editors, photographers and others is starting to color the pool and suggests diversity for the industry may be around the corner.
“Thirty-eight percent of the youngest newsroom employees are both non-Hispanic white and male. This is still a higher share than among workers overall (30 percent), but this 8-percentage-point gap is smaller than among older age groups. Newsroom employees age 50 and older are 17 percentage points more likely to be white men than all workers in the same age group, while those ages 30 to 49 are 15 points more likely,” said Pew.
