Diversity in the Newsroom

This volume concentrates on the study and efforts of women and minority men to gain respect and parity in journalism and mass communication, and focuses on trends over the past three decades. Contributions to the volume provide a history of the equity efforts and offer updates on equity in the academy and in the professions. Theoretical and international perspectives on equity are also included, as are the concerns about equity from the new generations now coming into the profession. This anthology serves as a benchmark of women's current status in journalism and mass communication and provides a call to action for the future. As such, it is required reading for all concerned with establishing equity throughout the discipline.

Time, Change, and the American Newspaper focuses on newspapers as organizations, examining the role of change in the newspaper industry and providing a model from which to view and respond to change. Authors George Sylvie and Patricia D. Witherspoon discuss environmental and organizational influences on contemporary newspapers, and they analyze newspapers within the larger context of all organizations. This more general perspective provides insights into the nature of change, the change process, the rationale for organizational changes, resistance to such changes, and initiation and implementation strategies. In its examination of change, this volume explores the causes of newspaper change, how newspaper change takes shape, and when change does not work. This consideration sets the stage for detailed case studies examining the roles of new technology, product, and people as change agents in newspapers. The discussion concludes with the impact of change--or lack of it--on the contemporary newspaper industry and the subsequent impact of newspaper change on society. Sylvie and Witherspoon propose future directions of change and of newspaper decision-making processes pertaining to change, and they offer suggestions for changes in newspaper structures and thought processes. Providing a sound, theoretically-based approach to the topic of change and American newspapers, this volume is essential reading for educators and students in journalism, media/newsroom management, media economics, organizational behavior/communication, and related areas. It also provides a wealth of insights and practical knowledge for newspaper publishers, editors, and practicing journalists.

This book presents findings from the most comprehensive and representative study ever done of the demographic and educational backgrounds, working conditions, and professional and ethical values of U.S. print and broadcast journalists working in the 1990s, including separate analyses for women and minority news people. It compares many of these findings with those from the major studies of the early 1970s and 1980s. As such, it should be the standard reference on U.S. journalists for years to come.

Is TV news racist? If the purpose of local news is to cover individual communities and to present issues of interest and concern to local audiences, why are local newscasts so similar in markets around the country? These are the questions that motivated Heider's research, leading to the development of this book. Recognizing that local news is the outlet through which most people get their news, Heider ventured into the local television newsrooms in two moderate-size, culturally diverse U.S. markets to observe the news process. In this report, he uses his insider's perspective to examine why local television news coverage of people of color does not occur in more meaningful ways. Heider examines the perceptions of racism and ethnicity, and addresses such dichotomies as "white" news (content determined by white managers) being delivered by non-white news anchors, thus giving the appearance of "non-white" news. He also considers how coverage of minorities influences viewers' perceptions of their minority neighbors. Heider then sets forth a new theoretical concept--incognizant racism--as a way of explaining how news workers consistently ignore news in significant portions of the communities they cover. This contribution to the minorities and media discussion provides important insights into the newsroom decision-making process and the sociology and structure of newsrooms. It is required reading for all who are involved in news reporting, mass communication, media and minority studies, and cultural issues in today's society.