No Surprise Here: Fewer Daily Newspaper Journalists

In what's sure to lift everyone's spirits at the American Society of Newspaper Editors' (ASNE) annual conference, the annual newsroom census numbers show the largest decline in the number of daily newspaper journalists in nearly 30 years.

According to the newly released data, the total number of newsroom employees declined 4.4 percent (or 2,400 jobs). Minority journalists continue to see reductions amid all the frenetic cuts, losing 300 jobs in 2007, though the percentage of overall minority journalists increased incrementally from 13.43 to 13.52 percentage of all newsroom employees. This is most likely due to the overall reductions of newspaper workforces (as opposed to being the result of new hires).

Still, newsrooms have a long way to go to represent the potential U.S. readership. ASNE notes that according to the most recent census, "racial and ethnic minorities made up 34 percent of the population in 2006." That gap is likely to continue if newspapers don't diversify as the population does.

ASNE, an MTF grantee, surveyed 924 daily newspapers for the study. For more on the census, visit: http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=6945