May 7, 2004

Seeking Offices With Glass Walls

Dear NABJ members:

Looking back on recent weeks, I write with mixed emotions regarding the flurry of news about changes in top and upper management at our nation’s daily newspapers.

From Philadelphia to Los Angeles, and from Montgomery, Ala., to Kalamazoo, Mich., black journalists are seizing new challenges and gaining more authority at higher levels. We laud these accomplished journalists and are confident they will represent us well while ably leading their newsrooms.

But even as we note these key movements, we are deeply disappointed that black journalists were not among those tapped for the most significant jobs elsewhere.

We could not help but notice, for example, that we were all but shut out in the recent high-profile management shake-ups at USA Today and the Dallas Morning News.

We recall wistfully when the Morning News had three black assistant managing editors seemingly on the fast track in the early 1990s. A decade later, the top African American in its management is still at the AME level. This comes as the paper just promoted journalists to, among other jobs, publisher, vice president/associate editor, vice president/managing editor and senior deputy managing editor.

USA Today, the nation’s largest daily newspaper, just named its sixth editor in its 22-year history, and promoted journalists to executive editor, editorial page editor and managing editor for Money and managing editor for News. The newspaper has never had a black journalist serve above the level of deputy managing editor in any of its four main sections, which also include Sports and Life.

Again, we celebrate our success stories. But we worry it is becoming harder for us to get the coveted jobs that come with the offices with glass walls. As one highly respected editor passed over for a top job told me recently, “Any time we think we’ve made some strides, something happens to remind us that we haven’t.”

“There are too few of us now”

Industrywide, the numbers speak for themselves.

The 2004 diversity survey released last month by the American Newspaper Editors Society (ASNE) found that nearly one out of five black journalists are supervisors, 572 out of 2,938. That’s a decrease of 15 black supervisors from the year before, and means they represent only .04 percent of all newspaper supervisors.

“There are too few of us now, and my industry is paying a great price for it,” writes Ronnie Agnew, executive editor of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., in a compelling new book released last month by ASNE’s diversity committee.

The book, “The Passionate Editor,” promotes on its cover that it offers “16 essays from people who love being an editor and an appeal for journalists of color to join them.” Other black journalists among the essayists include Caesar Andrews, editor, Gannett News Service; Sherri Brown-Jackson, formerly city editor of The Journal Times, Racine, Wis., and the new managing editor of the Alexandria (La.) Daily Town Talk; Ken Bunting, executive editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Rob King, deputy managing editor, visual/sports, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gregory Moore, a trusted advisor, a former NABJ regional director, and now editor of The Denver Post, co-edited “The Passionate Editor” with another NABJ member, Bobbi Bowman, ASNE’s diversity director. In the book’s introduction, Greg writes:

“For some, the rigors of editing seem to boil down to one big headache. Long hours. Grumpy subordinates. Pressure from the top down and push back from the bottom up. Many of us who do it, however, really love it. We love shaping the news report; we love dispatching the troops; we love solving problems and being in the thick of things. And we love having a powerful role in directing coverage of minority communities that gets beyond the pathology we so often complain about.”

More editing and management training

As NABJ president, I wholeheartedly urge any black journalist thinking of becoming an editor to contact ASNE for a copy of the book, to seek whatever management training you can get wherever you can get it, to latch onto a respected editor as a mentor, and then to just go for it. And if the right job offer comes along at the right time, go for it even if it means moving to a smaller paper. You can always move back to a larger paper after getting much needed experience. Many have done so.

As in years past, NABJ remains committed to providing editing and management training for black journalists through our Media Institute, regional conferences and the annual convention. We hope to begin later this year offering more of such training electronically via this Web site so that it is available to you whenever you want it. Speaking of the convention, check out the several management and career development workshops planned for the Unity 2004 gathering in Washington in August. (If you haven’t registered for the convention yet, now’s the time to do so.)

At the same time, I know many black journalists see the management shake-ups in their own newspapers and elsewhere and wonder if doing all the right things will pay off. This is from an up-and-coming black editor at a large Southeast newspaper, commenting on the perception that role models with much more experience, who had presumably proven and positioned themselves, were recently passed over:

“It seems to me in the mid- to late 1990s there was a push to put us in position for key posts. Now, it seems to be a reversal of that. We’re being left behind. It’s something that (white) editors need to wake up to or become conscious about. It needs to stop. Are we back to hitting the proverbial glass ceiling? It’s not a very good signal to reporters and other editors in the newsroom to have people achieve certain positions and just sit there. Are we going to the next level or just in park?”

Talented and passionate editors aplenty

For sure, all is not lost when it comes to black editors.

Just look at NABJ’s own Internet-based census, “Top Black Editors at U.S. Newspapers.” Primarily compiled by Don Hudson, managing editor at The Clarion-Ledger, the list shows there are plenty of talented and passionate black journalists at the DME and AME levels who are prepared to lead newsrooms.

But therein lies a key concern for black journalists.

As of today, our census shows that only a dozen daily newspapers now have black journalists as top editors, with the 13th to come when Wanda Lloyd, executive director of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute and former USA Today senior editor, takes over as executive editor of the Montgomery Advertiser on June 1.

Perhaps just as troubling is while the list cites 16 black managing editors and 12 black DMEs, there are 32 black AMEs. Why would this be troubling? It’s simple. No one really wants to remain a deputy or an assistant anything for too long. That goes back to what the Southeast editor said about the glass ceiling.

We challenge the industry to look hard at the DMEs and AMEs, and everyone else, for that matter, on our census and to either promote or recruit them. In particular, I’m speaking to those publishers and editors with current and upcoming openings.

NABJ is watching to see if the industry – when it comes to moving more of black journalists into offices with glass walls – is really moving forward. Or backward.