U. S. Newsroom Employment Falls Again;
Small Gains for Women, Minorities

The overall number of professionals working in U. S. newsrooms declined by about 500 journalists in 2003, with current newsroom employment at an estimated 54,200, according to the 27th annual Newsroom

Census of the American Society of Newspaper Editors released in April. The number of full-time professionals working in newsrooms continues to drop. Newsrooms have lost an estimated 2,000 full-time professionals since the year 2000 ,largely through the loss of white men. The percentage of women in daily newsrooms increased slightly to 37.23 percent after a two-year decline. The number of white women declined by a net of 72 and the number of minority women increased by a net of 80. Minority women make up 16.27 percent of the women professionals in newsrooms, up from 15.8 percent last year.

Daily newspapers staffs are still largely male. Men now total 34,017, a net decrease of 533 from last year. Minority men number 3,733 ,up from 3,652 last year.

Details, including charts and reaction from women journalists, are available at www.asne.org.

Sexiness and On-Air Journalism: Combustible
Combination for Women Anchors?

A longtime tenet of journalism is that journalists should report the news, not make it. In our age of celebrity, that seems like a quaint notion now, as disgraced journalists such as Jayson Blair write books, and television anchors are required to submit to management's dictates on their appearance, apparel, hairstyles and grooming, much as actors do in a Hollywood studio stable.

As TV anchors cross the fuzzy line between being a journalist and being a "personality," their personal choices can come to affect credibility, as Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times notes in his story (April 15, 2004) about KTLA morning news anchor Sharon Tay's striking seductive poses for the March issue of Razor, a men's magazine.

Read Braxton's article in its entirety at www.latimes.com.

FAIR Analysis Concludes It Was Hard to
Find Women's March on Television News

From Fairness & Accuracy in Media: "On Sunday, April 25, hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Washington, D.C., to demonstrate for women's reproductive rights. Crowd estimates ranged from 500,000 to 1.15 million, but it was clear that the March for Women's Lives was one of the largest demonstrations in the capital's history-- and perhaps the largest ever. One might have expected, then, to see extensive coverage on national television-- but a look at both network and cable news during the days surrounding the march turned up remarkably few reports.

For more on this from FAIR, visit http://www.fair.org/activism/womens-march-networks.html

Study: TV Minority, Women Correspondents Improve
In Visibility, But Blacks Again Not in Top Ranks

The nightly network newscasts featured more women and minority reporters than ever in 2002, according to a study released in February 2004 by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). However, the study found no African-Americans among this year's 25 most visible correspondents for the second year in a row-after two ranked among 2000's top 10.

These are the results of CMPA's 13th annual report on "Gender and Minority Representation in Network News." This report examined the 12,179 news stories broadcast on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs during 2002.

For more on CMPA's work, visit www.cmpa.com.

United Church of Christ Asks FCC
To Initiate Promised EEO Audits

The United Church of Christ, an institution with a long history as a communications advocate, in April challenged the U. S. Federal Communications Commission to keep its promise to launch random equal employment opportunity audits and targeted investigations of licensees in radio and television. The FCC had publicly pledged to do so, beginning March 10, 2003.

The challenge came in the form of a letter to FCC Chair Michael K. Powell from the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ (OC, Inc.), a communication advocacy entity organized in the 1960s by the United Church of Christ. The letter was signed by Rev. Robert Chase, executive director of OC, Inc., and former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, now managing director of OC, Inc.

Further details are available from Tristani in Washington at (202) 263-2586 or tristang@ucc.org.

Research In Depth:

Donna Allen: Activist, Publisher, Educator, Thinker

Power in Black and White: The Representation of Power in Women's Magazines

Plus News Briefs, People and Book Reviews

Media Report to Women has hard copies of back issues dating to its founding in 1972. Indispensable for research!