WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cecilia Alvear, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, expressed her approval of the Radio-Television News Directors Association’s decision to provide separate data on the percentage of Latinos working at English-language stations in its annual minority newsroom employment survey.
The 2000 RTNDA survey, released in the association’s July edition of Communicator, counts both English- and Spanish-language stations to determine the overall percentage of the Latino broadcast work force.
It found that Latinos make up 7 percent of all television newsroom employees and 9 percent of all television news directors. Statistics provided to the NAHJ by the RTNDA reveal that, if Spanish-language stations are tallied separately, the overall percentage of Hispanic newsroom employees at English-language stations actually amounts to 4 percent. The total for Hispanic news directors also amounts only to 4 percent when Spanish-language stations are tallied separately.
The NAHJ wrote a letter to RTNDA in May asking the association to include statistics on the percentages of Latinos working at English-language stations in addition to reporting the totals for all stations.
"We believe that it is important for those working at English-language stations to have a clear understanding of the percentage of Latinos working at their stations," said Alvear. "As the statistics indicate, Latinos are woefully underrepresented.
"We applaud the RTNDA for agreeing to change its survey," said Alvear. "We also applaud the RTNDA for counting Spanish-language stations to determine the overall total. We ask that they continue to do so. It is important to count Spanish-language stations as they continue to grow in size and influence in our nation."
RTNDA’s 2000 survey found that the percentage of journalists of color working in the newsrooms of all local television stations climbed from 19 percent in 1999 to 21 percent in 2000, with African Americans accounting for the gain.
African Americans make up 11 percent of the television newsroom work force, followed by Asian Americans at 3 percent and Native Americans at less than 1 percent.
