NABJ: Don't let newsroom layoffs push diversity efforts out the door

(December 5, 2008) The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is calling on the industry to keep diversity in the forefront of cost-cutting decisions made this week at Gannett Co., one of the country's largest media operations. Diversity is an essential component of success that companies and communities can't afford to lose.

Despite the seemingly unending layoffs and buyouts in American newsrooms, this week's dismissals at Gannett Co. mark an especially crippling blow to journalism.

"Publishers still need to serve the diverse communities which support their newspapers and magazines by purchasing these media products and shopping with their advertisers," said NABJ President Barbara Ciara. "Plain and simple: diversity in the newsroom is good for business."

According to Gannett, more than 2,000 positions will be cut across the company's 85 daily papers. This follows consolidations that nixed about 100 newspaper managers this fall and another 1,000 Gannett jobs through layoffs, attrition and buyouts. Hundreds of these employees are journalists.

Amazingly, in 2008 alone, an estimated 14,000 people have lost their jobs at newspapers through buyouts and layoffs. There are predictions that by 2010, several cities may be without a daily newspaper.

"The entire industry is facing perilous times," NABJ Vice President of Print Ernie Suggs said. "With all of our efforts, this print crisis can also be addressed in a way that preserves the integrity and diversity of our great newspapers."

We know that newspapers are making money – just not the astronomical profits of the 1990s. NABJ is reminding media companies of their sacred trust, which is more than the bottom line. Never forget that media companies provide a public service.

Journalists are the very people who create the products that readers want to buy.

Journalists are doing their jobs. They are working smarter and doing more with fewer colleagues and resources.

NABJ implores newsroom leaders to create and maintain staffs that reflect the nation's great diversity. In 2007, there were 300 fewer journalists of color in newsrooms than the year before, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). Sadly, this slide comes at the time when the industry's newspapers pledged to achieve parity with the communities they serve.

"This company had mainstreaming, diversity and inclusiveness on its radar screen long before [they] became fashionable," said Gannett Senior Vice President of News Phil Currie in a 2002 statement. "Looking at diversity in our coverage and in our newsrooms is one of the key issues examined by our Task Force on Newsroom Recruiting, Retention and Diversity." NABJ asks that this committee and others like it review Gannett's diversity numbers after the conclusion of the most recent cuts.

NABJ is willing to do our part. This organization is available to aid the industry in any way we can to recruit and retain black journalists. We must all work to reverse this disturbing trend.

The question is: Will Gannett and other industry leaders continue their commitment to diversity in difficult economic times?

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100 members, providing educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.


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