NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
August 1, 2003

Contacts:
Ernest R. Sotomayor, President, UNITY Board of Directors
Long Island Editor, Newsday.com
631-843-3664

Anna M. Lopez, Executive Director, UNITY
(703) 854-3585

UNITY CALLS ON BROADCAST INDUSTRY TO CONVENE DIVERSITY SUMMIT

Arlington, VA – UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc., today calls on the broadcast industry to take immediate actions that will begin to reverse a continued and unconscionable slide in the representation of people of color in newsrooms across America.

The annual study released Wednesday by the Radio and Television News Directors Association shows that, for the second straight year, the percentage of people of color working in local radio and television news has taken a sharp decline.

Among the findings for all local broadcast outlets, the percentage of people of color dropped from 20.6 last year to 18.1. The results are even worse when looking just at English-language outlets, where people of color make up only 17 percent of broadcast newsroom professionals, down from 19 percent last year, and from 21.8 in 2001.

According to the survey, news directors in local TV fell from 9.2 percent to 6.6 percent. People of color make up 5 percent of the news director slots in radio, unchanged from last year.

Fortunately, there was progress overall for women, who now hold a record 26.5 percent of the TV news director jobs and 14.4 percent of the news director slots in radio.

"These findings clearly demonstrate the low value the nation's broadcast industry places on improving newsroom diversity," said Ernest R. Sotomayor, president of UNITY's board of directors. "The industry pleaded for the right to consolidate without government restrictions, contending that journalism will only improve.”

"In fact, the slide in representation further degrades broadcast journalism, and perpetuates dishonesty in reporting as news media outlets continue to see only part of the picture. The failure to retain professionals of color and to increase their presence in decision-making positions over time shows that past pledges of commitment to diversity have been a bust. When all evidence, from U.S. Census data to a walk down any street in any town, points to the increasing diversity of this nation, the broadcast news profession has no credible excuse for to not being able to increase the representation of people of color among the ranks."

The RTNDA report cited the lack of strong equal employment opportunity rules, saying the slide began with the elimination of the Federal Communications Commission rules in 2001. And, while the FCC stated that diversity in the news media was an important goal as it considered recent media ownership rule changes, the agency's amendments did not address the issue in any substantive manner.

In light of these findings, UNITY, an alliance of the nation's four largest organizations of journalists of color, calls on the industry to quickly take the following actions:

• Convene a National Broadcasting Diversity Summit that calls together the top leadership in the broadcast industry and the industry's top associations to develop, and implement, strategies that will immediately begin increasing newsroom diversity. From this gathering, we challenge the leadership of both local and national broadcast media to establish programs with measurable goals with explicit target dates to raise the presence of minority news professionals in broadcast newsrooms across the nation.

• Provide a more detailed survey that provides data station-by-station, along with specific levels of representation by different groups of people of color in each outlet, so that viewers and listeners can credibly track their local station’s progress in achieving diversity goals. Without this, it is impossible to attack the problem in the locations where it is at its worst.

• Establish an agreement in which all of broadcast networks will participate in the RTNDA survey. As of now, the national television networks, which hold thousands of prime jobs in broadcasting, have refused years of requests to disclose their diversity figures. Failing to do so makes it impossible for the viewing public to credibly assess progress toward meaningful newsroom diversity.

• Press the FCC to proceed with its stated plan to form a Diversity Committee to advise the agency on policies and practices that promote and enhance opportunities for women and people of color in communications.

UNITY and its alliance partners – Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and Native American Journalists Association -- stand ready to work in partnership with the broadcast news industry, and station owners and managers to achieve these goals. These organizations, through on-going programs and sessions held during their annual conventions, have long sought to develop the skills of broadcast journalists and to improve retention.

UNITY 2004 – a joint convention of the four organizations that is held every five years – will be held August 4-8, 2004 in Washington, D.C. The first two UNITY conventions, in 1994 and 1999, were the largest journalism gatherings ever in the U.S., and the 2004 convention is expected again to set new attendance records.

For more information go to www.unityjournalists.org

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About UNITY: Journalists of Color
UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is a strategic alliance advocating news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenging its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation’s diversity. UNITY, representing more than 10,000 journalists of color, is comprised of four national associations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association.

In addition to planning the largest regular gathering of journalists in the nation, UNITY develops programs and institutional relationships that promote its mission. For more information on UNITY, visit www.unityjournalists.org, email info@unityjournalists.org or call (703) 854-3585.