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Unity conference underscores crisis in journalism
(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CHICAGO _ As 5,000 journalists of color arrive in Chicago for a quadrennial convention, the state of newsroom diversity is at the top of the agenda as usual. This year, however, the urgency is far greater.
The already thin ranks of minority journalists are being culled by layoffs and employee buyouts as news operations around the country shrink to accommodate a drop in advertising revenue. The fear is minorities will bear a disproportionate share of the ongoing job losses because they are more heavily represented among the recently hired.
That would be a worrisome development to Karen Lincoln Michel, president of Unity, an alliance of professional groups representing black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American journalists.
Already, Lincoln Michel is hearing anecdotal evidence that many veteran journalists of color are being let go or are taking buyouts offered by management.
"That's really hurtful because it took us many years to make the slight gains we made," Lincoln Michel said. "To see our very talented journalists leave the business, it's not good."
Increasing the presence of minorities in newsroom has proved a challenging goal even in good economic times. For decades, the goal has been "parity," having newsrooms mirror the racial makeup of the communities they serve. But statistics show reality is far from that.
Journalists of color made up 13.52 percent of daily newspaper staffs in 2008, according to an annual survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. That's far less than the 34 percent of the U.S. population that minorities comprise.
The 13.52 percent mark actually represented a slight increase from a year earlier when minorities made up 13.43 percent of newsrooms, but that occurred because staffs were shrinking. In fact, there are 300 fewer journalists of color working in the industry this year than last year, Unity officials said.
Rather than focusing on the elusive goal of overall parity, Unity's president will announce Wednesday an initiative to increase the presence of minorities in newsroom management positions. "It's an acknowledgment that what we have been doing isn't working so we have to do something drastically different," Lincoln Michel said.
The theme of this year's convention is, appropriately enough, "A new journalism for a changing world."
One last-minute change should pump up attendees, who are expected to be fewer than last time Unity convened. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has changed his schedule and will be addressing the convention Sunday morning after returning from his headline-making tour of Europe and the Middle East.
Republican candidate John McCain is still welcome, Unity officials said. Earlier McCain declined a Unity invitation because of a prior commitment to speak at Lance Armstrong's "Town Hall on Cancer." Four years ago, both presidential candidates _ John Kerry and George Bush _ spoke to the group in separate forums.
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Euna Lhee, an Asian-American journalist who grew up in Schaumburg, Ill., can't escape the industry's gloom and doom as she heads to the Unity convention Wednesday.
"It's definitely opened my eyes. I didn't know the extent of the gravity of the situation," said Lhee, who is currently a health care reporting intern at the Baltimore Sun, a Tribune Co. newspaper. "As much as I love journalism, it is a little discouraging to come to an internship fresh out of graduate school to witness all these buyouts and layoffs. The jury is out for me."
Although Lhee doesn't expect many news organizations to be hiring, she still plans to network and meet as many people as possible during the four-day gathering. With change comes opportunity, she notes.
"If newspapers do cut back, I feel medical stories will not be covered as much in-depth as in the past. To be a specialized medical reporter could give me an advantage."
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Lloyd LaCuesta, a bureau chief with a Fox TV station in the Bay Area and the founding president of Unity, says the group will be addressing the concerns of newcomers as well as discussing how to "make sure the gains journalists of color have made over 20 years don't erode."
It won't be easy, he notes, because at many newspapers, seniority plays a role in deciding who is let go. For those just starting out, LaCuesta suggests they do a serious self-assessment to see if they truly have the passion for the job. If they do, he believes minority journalists will be able to find work.
"The jobs are still there. We're going through a readjustment and a shakeout. Maybe I'm whistling past the graveyard, but I don't believe newspapers and broadcast are going to die."
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Copyright ? 2008 Chicago Tribune
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