Broadcast News Work Force … Television

Mixed Results for Women and Minorities

By Bob Papper

The latest figures from the Annual RTNDA/Ball State University Survey show the largest percentage of women television news directors ever, a slight increase in minority news directors, but a slide downward in the percentage of minorities overall.

Women now make up 25.9 percent of TV news directors—that’s almost 2 percent higher than the previous record. Minorities edged up to 9.2 percent of television news directors.

At 20.6 percent, the TV minority workforce slid back from last year’s all-time high of 24.6 percent to just above the level from two years ago. Excluding Hispanic stations, the drop is less: from last year’s 21.8 percent minority to this year’s 19.0 percent. Other than last year, that’s the highest percentage of minorities at non-Hispanic stations that we’ve ever recorded.

So why are we down from last year? There are two possibilities. First, last year’s data could simply represent a statistical anomaly. We’re always at the mercy of who returns the survey, and last year’s sample could have over-represented the population. Another possibility is that the downturn in the economy has hurt minority numbers. As scarcer minorities may have moved up in market size, many stations were not able to make hires to replace them, and that could lead to an overall drop in percentage.

Most of the decrease from last year is among Hispanics. Michael Reyes, Member Services Manager of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists says the group can’t really compare last year’s membership figures to this year’s, but that there “definitely has not been a drop.” He says the numbers have been “consistent if not up slightly.”

The other group taking the biggest hit is Asian American. Randall Yip, executive producer at KNTV in San Francisco and Vice President of Broadcast for the Asian American Journalists Association says much the same thing—that they have no evidence of a drop in number.

Since the numbers for both Hispanics and Asian Americans tend to represent historic norms, that suggests that last year’s data may well have overstated the percentages.

Broadcast News Work Force … Television

	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996	1995
Caucasian	81.9 %	79.4%	75.4%	79.0%	81.0%	80.0%	79.0%	81.0%	82.9%
African American	8.4%	9.3%	9.9%	11.0%	9.0%	10.0%	10.0%	9.0%	10.1%
Hispanic	6.5%	7.7%	10.1%	7.0%	7.0%	6.0%	7.0%	6.0%	4.2%
Asian American	2.7%	3.1%	4.1%	3.0%	3.0%	3.0%	3.0%	3.0%	2.2%
Native American	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	<1.0%	<1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	0.6%

Broadcast News Work Force … Radio

	2003	2002	2001	1994
Caucasian	93.5%	92.0%	89.3%	85.3%
African American	4.8%	4.1%	5.2%	5.7%
Hispanic	1.2%	2.4%	5.5%	7.5%
Asian American	0.3%	0.8%	<1%	0.6%
Native American	0.2%	0.7%	<1%	1.0%

In TV, minorities dropped to 18.1 percent, with all minority groups – except Native Americans – edging down. Without Hispanic stations, the minority percentage fell from last year’s 19.0 percent to 17.0 percent this year. In radio, the percentage of minorities continued the general slide that started with the elimination of the EEO guidelines.

Broadcast News Directors … Television

	2003	2002	2001	1994
Caucasian	93.4%	90.8%	92.0%	92.1%
African American	0.9%	2.0%	0.6%	1.6%
Hispanic	4.4%	5.8%	5.7%	3.8%
Asian American	0.9%	0.4%	1.1%	1.5%
Native American	0.4%	1.0%	0.6%	1.0%

Broadcast News Directors … Radio

	2003	2002	2001	1994
Caucasian	95.0%	94.9%	95.6%	91.4%
African American	2.5%	1.9%	1.5%	5.4%
Hispanic	1.7%	2.6%	2.9%	2.4%
Asian American	0	0	<1%	0
Native American	0.8%	0.6%	<1%	0.8%

In television, the percentage of minority news directors fell across the board—except for Asian Americans. Among non-Hispanic stations, the percentage of minority news directors fell to 4.1 percent. Radio has changed little in the last few years.

Women in Local TV News

	News Staffs With Women	Women News Directors	Women as Percentage of Work Force	Average Number of Women on Staff
All Television	90.0%	26.5%	39.3%	12.5
Network Affiliates	91.5%	21.5%	39.3%	13.3
Independents	80.0%	22.2%	33.8%	6.7
DMA 1-25	80.6%	22.6%	39.0%	19.1
DMA 26-50	80.6%	18.2%	36.4%	15.5
DMA 51-100	93.7%	17.5%	40.1%	15.1
DMA 101-150	94.7%	25.0%	41.2%	10.1
DMA 151+	91.4%	28.6%	37.9%	5.9
Staff 51+	100.0%	17.0%	39.3%	25.8
Staff 31-50	100.0%	17.6%	39.5%	13.4
Staff 21-30	100.0%	28.3%	38.8%	9.0
Staff 11-20	97.1%	35.3%	40.0%	5.3
Staff 1-10	80.0%	15.8%	42.1%	3.5

The percentage of women news directors in television hit another record high this year at 26.5 percent – up slightly from last year’s record of 25.9 percent. As with last year, if we projected the percentage of women news directors, we’d report the figure at 22.3 percent. Most numbers in the RTNDA survey are projected, but this one is not. The 26.5 percent of women news directors is a census figure. This also means that, for some reason, women TV news directors are a little less likely to return the survey than their male counterparts. Overall, there were few meaningful changes in the numbers since last year. Fox and PBS affiliates were half as likely to have women news directors as other stations, and stations in the south were also less likely to have women news directors. One of the largest news departments in the survey reported having 60 women in the news department.

Women in Local Radio News

	News Staffs With Women	Women News Directors	Women as Percentage of Work Force	Average Number of Women on Staff
All Radio	44.7% - 49.2%	11.6% - 22.3%	24.0% - 32.5%	2.1 - 1.4
Major Market	62.5% - 66.7%	7.7% - 26.1%	32.1% - 42.9%	2.6 - 3.2
Large Market	56.0% - 62.5%	4.3% - 31.0%	25.8% - 37.6%	2.2 - 1.5
Medium Market	41.8% - 50.0%	17.6% - 22.4%	22.6% - 32.0%	1.7 - 1.3
Small Market	33.3% - 32.7%	8.8% - 13.3%	16.1% - 19.5%	2.2 - 0.6

The percentage of women news directors plunged from last year’s 22.3 percent to this year’s 11.6 percent. While there has always been some up and down movement in the numbers, the percentage has been in the twenties for years. Next year’s survey will tell us whether there’s really some sort of trend developing or just a blip in the survey returns. The percentage of women in the radio work force also fell – from 32.5 percent last year to 24 percent this time. Both drops run across all market sizes. Unlike TV, there were more women news directors in the South and the fewest in the Northeast. 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

	News Staffs With Minorities	Minority News Directors	Minorities as Percentage of Work Force	Average Number of Minorities on Staff
All Television	89.2%	6.6%	18.1%	5.7
Network Affiliates	89.6%	3.5%	16.9%	5.7
Independents	70.0%	0	18.7%	3.7
DMA 1-25	67.7%	3.4%	24.9%	12.2
DMA 26-50	83.3%	11.8%	19.5%	8.3
DMA 51-100	92.1%	6.7%	15.0%	5.7
DMA 101-150	94.7%	5.6%	17.6%	4.3
DMA 151+	97.1%	6.2%	12.8%	2.0
Staff 51+	78.7%	2.1%	19.9%	13.1
Staff 31-50	96.0%	5.5%	16.9%	5.7
Staff 21-30	97.8%	4.7%	14.9%	3.5
Staff 11-20	97.1%	17.2%	22.4%	3.0
Staff 1-10	95.0%	11.2%	17.6%	1.5

The percentage of television staffs with minorities is virtually unchanged from a year ago, and the average number of minorities on staff rose. But it didn’t rise as fast as the total staff, so the overall percentage of minorities in TV fell from last year (20.6 percent to 18.1 percent). The percentage of minority news directors fell substantially – to 6.6 percent from last year’s 9.2 percent. Most of that drop came from independent stations. Historically, they tended to employ a much higher percentage of minority news directors than the average; this year, not one survey came in from an independent station with a minority news director. The percentage of minority news directors at the largest and biggest news departments also fell noticeably. ABC and independent news operations were the least likely to have minority news directors. News department in the Northeast and Midwest were also least likely to have minority news directors and lagged behind in minority employment overall.

Minorities in Local Radio News

	News Staffs With Minorities	Minority News Directors	Minorities as Percentage of Work Force	Average Number of Minorities on Staff
All Radio	15.9%	3.4%	6.8%	1.7
Major Market	31.3%	8.3%	7.4%	1.2
Large Market	32.0%	9.0%	13.3%	2.0
Medium Market	12.7%	2.0%	4.8%	1.1
Small Market	2.8%	0	1.2%	2.0

As with television, the number of minorities in radio news increased – but not as fast as the overall staff. The minority workforce percentage slipped from last year’s 8 percent to 6.8 percent. After a slight increase last year, the percentage of minority news directors fell to its lowest point in years at 3.4 percent. The percentage of news staffs with minorities also fell – from 19.8 percent last year down to 15.9 percent. Radio news departments in the South were most like to have minority news directors; the Midwest and the West were least likely.

TV General Managers

	Percent Caucasian	Percent Minority	Percent Men	Percent Women
All Television	96.4%	3.6%	86.1%	13.9%
Network Affiliates	97.9%	2.1%	85.6%	14.4%
Independents	100.0%	0	90.0%	10.0%
DMA 1-25	100.0%	0	90.3%	9.7%
DMA 26-50	91.4%	8.6%	82.9%	17.1%
DMA 51-100	96.7%	3.3%	90.3%	9.7%
DMA 101-150	97.2%	2.8%	86.8%	13.2%
DMA 151+	96.7%	3.3%	76.5%	13.5

The percentage of women general managers edged up slightly from last year’s 13 percent. But the percentage of minority general managers dropped from 5.2 percent last year. We found no Native American or Asian American general managers. Three-quarters of the minority GMs were Hispanic. Minority general managers were least likely to be found in the Northeast. Women GMs were lost likely in the Midwest and least likely in the West and at NBC affiliates. In the four years we’ve tracked general managers, women have remained largely unchanged, but minorities have dropped steadily every year – starting at 10 percent four years ago. At non-Hispanic stations, only 1.4 percent of the general managers were minorities. Again, that’s the lowest figure since we started asking the question. Note that the figures for general managers only include those stations with news departments; those without news departments are not included in this survey.

Radio General Managers

	Percent Caucasian	Percent Minority	Percent Men	Percent Women
All Radio	96.2%	3.8%	89.0%	11.0%

As with television, there’s little change in the percentage of women general managers from the last two years, but minority general managers dropped from last year’s 5.7 percent to this year’s 3.8 percent.

TV Positions by Gender and Race

Percent Male

Percent Female

Percent White

Percent Minority

Percent African American

Percent Hispanic/Latino

Percent Asian American

Percent Native American

News Director

79.6

20.4

93.4

6.6

1.3

4.0

0.4

0.9

Assistant News Director

67.4

32.6

87.4

12.6

6.2

3.8

2.6

Executive Producer

50.4

49.6

89.4

10.6

7.4

2.4

0.8

Managing Editor

70.3

29.7

86.9

13.1

7.4

1.9

3.8

Assignment Editor

59.6

40.4

78.2

21.8

13.2

6.1

2.5

News Producer

35.7

64.3

85.0

15.0

7.9

5.0

1.9

0.2

News Anchor

43.0

57.0

79.1

20.9

12.0

5.0

3.6

0.3

Weathercaster

80.5

19.5

90.9

9.1

3.1

5.0

1.0

Sports Anchor

92.6

7.4

89.4

10.6

6.0

3.8

0.8

News Reporter

41.7

58.3

73.8

26.2

12.3

7.9

5.4

0.6

Sports Reporter

91.9

8.1

89.9

10.1

6.1

4.0

News Writer

33.0

67.0

64.7

35.3

14.8

10.2

10.3

Photographer

92.7

7.3

82.7

17.3

9.1

6.7

1.1

0.4

Tape Editor

68.5

31.5

74.9

25.1

13.4

10.2

1.5

Graphics Specialist

68.0

32.0

78.6

21.4

8.0

6.7

Internet Specialist

63.3

36.7

93.9

6.1

2.0

4.1

News Assistant

36.1

63.9

77.0

23.0

12.5

7.9

2.6

We see relatively few trends developing as we look at specific newsroom positions. We collect this data every three years, and this marks the third time. Three years ago, it looked like both women and minorities were making headway in many of the higher end positions. This year’s numbers tend to split the difference between 1996 and 1999. Women continue to be more likely to be news anchors, and that’s likely to continue as women reporters continue to outpace men. On the other side, women made no gains in weather, although minority weathercasters rose slightly. In sports—both sports anchor and sports reporter—neither women nor minorities have advanced at all. And photographers, if anything, are slightly more likely to be white and male.

About the Survey

The RTNDA/Ball State University Survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2001 among all 1,396 operating, non-satellite television stations and a random sample of 1,505 radio stations. Valid responses came from 818 television stations (58.6 percent) and 249 radio news directors and general managers representing 622 radio stations. In television, uneven geographic distribution of returned surveys led us to gather additional data from 52 stations to evenly represent all areas, bringing the minority data responses to 870 or 62.3 percent. Data for women TV news directors is a complete census and is not projected from a smaller sample.