With major media outlets laying off reporters and editors at alarming rates, black journalists have been hit particularly hard as The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, National Public Radio, BET and NBC News are among the companies to drastically reduce newsroom staff in an effort to stay afloat financially. In 2008, an estimated 15,000 people have lost their jobs at newspapers, according to the tracking Web site Papercuts. And by 2010, media experts say, several cities may be without a daily newspaper. Almost every black journalist who is working knows a black journalist who isn't.
Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists and vice president for UNITY Journalists of Color, said black journalists – and journalists of color – offer readers and viewers a valuable perspective on news.
"When diversity dies in our nation’s newsrooms through layoffs and buyouts, it has a direct impact on the consumer of color,” Ciara told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “People in charge of content who have different experiences and backgrounds produce a more well-balanced product."
The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, will cut its newsroom staff about 40 percent by year’s end, one of the largest reductions in a single move by a major American newspaper.
Associated Press, the clearinghouse of U.S. journalism, is firing 10 percent of its staff, or about 400 people. Gannett Co. Inc, with interests in newspapers and broadcast stations, recently eliminated about 2,000 jobs in its latest round of cuts, while NBC News plans to reduce some of its 1,200 employees.
Earlier this year, The Washington Post asked a number of seasoned black journalists to consider taking buyouts – which many did – and other black journalists were forced to leave publications like The Dallas Morning News and The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Black journalists also are concerned about "News & Notes" – the provocative news program geared toward African-American listeners on National Public Radio – that has been canceled after a three-year run. NPR last week cited declining revenue for the cancellation, adding that the network planned to eliminate about seven percent of its workforce.
“Undoubtedly, historically-black radio has been the heartbeat of the black community, from the advent of talk radio through the Sunday morning gospel shows,” Keith Murphy, host of The Urban Journal on XM Radio, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “We, as a people, go to our local and national talk formatted shows in questionable times because of the trust and bonds that are developed.”
Richard Prince, who writes "Journal-Isms," a diversity column for the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, was among the first to report developments concerning “News & Notes” before the official announcement concerning the program’s demise.
The story continues...