Press Release

National Public Radio Signs on to NAHJ Parity Project During UNITY Convention in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Association of Hispanic Journalists' (NAHJ) is proud to announce that National Public Radio (NPR) has become the first national news organization to join NAHJ's innovative Parity Project.

NAHJ announced this partnership at its Hall of Fame Gala on Aug. 6, 2004 during the UNITY: Journalists of Color Convention in Washington, D.C. More than 1,500 NAHJ members and guests attended the gala.

NPR has 22 million listeners who tune in to its programs on 750 member stations throughout the U.S. Recent census figures show that Latinos make up about 13% of the overall population in this country, with that figure projected to rise to 25% by 2050.

During the Unity 2004 convention, NPR and NAHJ organized a task force to meet with key NPR staffers to formulate plans on moving ahead with the project.

To kick off the project, NPR will work with two NAHJ staff members to meet with key producers and editors of the news and newsmagazines to learn how broadcasts are created and what skills are required to be successful at NPR. With that background, NAHJ will be in a better position to help NPR find Latino applicants for upcoming job openings.

NAHJ staff members will work with newsroom leaders to organize a series of brown bag lunches, in Washington and in the West Coast Bureau in California, to discuss issues of interest to Hispanics, potential story ideas and Hispanic sources, who have expertise in the subject areas NPR covers.

NAHJ President Juan Gonzalez is proud to partner with one of the most important news organizations in this country and looks forward to increasing the presence of Latinos working at NPR and in NPR programming.

"NPR is one of the most respected news organizations in the country, " said Gonzalez. "Its involvement with the Parity Project will help NAHJ to provide Latinos with a national voice on various trends and issues that affect all Americans. A recent study by the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) shows that Latinos comprise only 3.9% of the total workforce in the newsrooms of English-language radio stations in the United States. NAHJ's partnership with NPR will hopefully bring that number up."

Kevin Klose, NPR's President and CEO, said the network's partnership with NAHJ's Parity Project "sends a clear message of NPR's deep commitment to providing programming that reflects the richness and diversity of America. Our partnership with NAHJ will help build NPR's capacity to cover the Hispanic community in more meaningful ways and with the voice of authenticity from Latino news professionals."

NAHJ will work with NPR to bring more Latino journalists into its news operations, while also helping the network to establish stronger ties with the Latino community on a national scale.

Major funding for NAHJ's Parity Project comes from the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in addition to contributions from NAHJ's own members.

More than 2,000 journalists are members of NAHJ, which was founded in 1984. NAHJ's members work primarily in the English and Spanish-language print, photo, broadcast and online media. NAHJ is the nation's largest organization for Latino journalists. To learn more about NAHJ, please visit our Web site at: www.nahj.org or call (202) 662-7145.