UNITY Statement on Newsroom Layoffs

   UNITY STATEMENT ON NEWSROOM LAYOFFS

UNITY: Journalists of Color urges America's media companies to ensure that achieving diversity in newsroom staffs will be upheld during this critical time of layoffs within the news industry.

UNITY, representing more than 10,000 minority journalists nationwide, is deeply concerned about the recent job cuts at The Philadelphia Inquirer where 30 percent of the 71 layoffs affected blacks and Asian Americans. Sixteen of the 71 jobs belonged to African Americans while five were positions held by Asian Americans.

The UNITY coalition, composed of the Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Native American Journalists Association, is alarmed that blacks at the Inquirer were twice as likely to be laid off than their white counterparts.

“It's unnerving that the first time journalists of color have reached parity in the newsroom comes in the form of layoffs,” said UNITY President Karen Lincoln Michel. “Decisions to consolidate or downsize news operations through layoffs should not be made without serious regard to the importance of diversity. America is changing demographically, and journalists of color represent that change.”

Latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that a third of the U.S. population is now minority. Yet, the latest figures from the American Society of Newspaper Editors indicate that the total percentage of minority newsroom staffs is only 13.87 percent.

According to the latest ASNE survey on newsroom employment, African Americans represent 11.3 percent of the newsroom staff at The Inquirer, yet they accounted for 22.5 percent of layoffs at the paper. Asian Americans represent 4.7 percent of The Inquirer's newsroom staff in the ASNE survey, but accounted for 7 percent of Inquirer layoffs. Similarly, the percentage of minority layoffs at The Inquirer is greater than the minority population in the paper's circulation area, which is about 20 percent, according to a report on diversity by the Knight Foundation.

The numbers in recent layoffs have shown that journalists of color have been disproportionately affected by these management decisions. This is a step backward in UNITY's continuing efforts toward achieving parity in newsroom employment. Newsroom diversity is the primary focus of UNITY's mission .

“As the economic pressures on the industry continue, it is possible more layoffs are imminent,” Michel said. “But we strongly urge media companies making these difficult decisions to ensure that their staffs, and ultimately their news coverage, reflect the communities they serve.  UNITY and its alliance partners remain committed to offering our resources to help the news industry maintain and strengthen the number of journalists of color.”

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