What's white and white and read all over?
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- U.S. newspapers got a failing grade for gender diversity in their sports departments and a C for racial diversity, according to a study released Thursday.
Seventy-eight percent of the staffs at Associated Press Sports Editors newspapers and
Web sites are white men, the study found.
Just 5 percent of sports staffs are black men and just under 3 percent are Latino men.
Only 11.5 percent are women.
The report was done by Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.
"I don't think anybody thought it was as stark as it turned out to be in 2006 and 2008," Lapchick said.
Among sports editors, 88 percent are white men, with just under 2 percent black men,
slightly more than 2 percent Latino men and nearly 6 percent white women. There was
just one black female sports editor among the 341 newspapers surveyed.
"I know we were all hoping for better results but it should serve as a constant reminder as to how far we have to go and to why we can never give up the fight," John Cherwa, an Orlando Sentinel editor who is Tribune Co.'s sports coordinator, said in the report. "There are fewer hiring opportunities than there used to be."
The figures were virtually unchanged from the initial survey Lapchick undertook at APSE's request in 2006, when he did not issue grades. The one area of improvement was among columnists, where the percentage of African-Americans rose about 2 points to 9.5 percent.
Lapchick said that of 49 columnists who were people of color, 17 were at ESPN.com. Nine of 28 female columnists were at ESPN.com.
"Today's sports editors might have limited resources, but they should have unlimited ideas on how to show that diversity is important. They should work with area colleges and area high schools for internship programs," said Lynn Hoppes, incoming APSE president and associated managing editor/sports for the Orlando Sentinel. "It's imperative for sports editors to take charge instead of waiting for change."
Lapchick said APSE was the only organization that had ever approached him asking to be surveyed. He suggested "individual newspapers do diversity management training to make those newsrooms -- and I would say this about any organization -- more welcoming places, so people don't think that they were hired simply because they were a woman or a person of color."
In addition, he said, there must be clear "opportunities for them to move up into other
positions in the newspaper if they wanted to."
"Let's hope the business sees its bottom very soon, and let's hope we do the study again in two years, and let's hope the meter can start ticking back in the right direction," Cherwa said. "I truly believe, despite these results, that APSE members are firmly committed to make this work."
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