ASNE to conduct census of online news organizations

• By: ASNE staff
• On: 06/09/2010 08:53:00
• In: Surveys

This summer, ASNE will conduct a new census to measure ethnic and gender diversity in online news organizations. We are asking for help from our members and others to ensure that the list of news organizations we are surveying is as broad as possible, realizing, nevertheless, that we must begin with a clearly defined group.

The survey is voluntary and will be sent to online-only, general interest news organizations that are the source of appreciable original reporting; that are not primarily wire services nor aggregators; and that are not operationally affiliated with a print publication or other media entity. News organizations that target specific ethnic groups or focus on a single topic will not be included in the survey, as has been the case with ASNE'S annual daily-newspaper census.

A list of the web-based news organizations ASNE has identified so far is below. ASNE welcomes suggestions of other online news organizations that do appreciable original reporting but that are not included on our list. Please send that information to ASNE.

ASNE may expand or refine the scope of subsequent surveys of online news organizations. This initial effort is just a beginning; it will take time to build a time-tested model like the annual survey of daily newspapers ASNE has fine-tuned over the past 32 years.

ASNE's longtime diversity consultant, Bobbi Bowman will oversee the census, along with the co-chairs of the ASNE Diversity Committee, Ronnie Agnew, executive editor of The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss., and Karen M. Magnuson, editor and vice president of news of the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle. We hope to complete it and to announce the results before the end of the summer.

Increasing diversity in U.S. newspaper newsrooms has been a primary ASNE mission since 1978, when the organization announced its goal of having the percentage of minorities working in newsrooms nationwide equal to the percentage of minorities in the nation's population by 2025. ASNE uses the census to measure its success in achieving that goal. The census has also become an important barometer of the overall size of the editorial job market at daily newspapers.

American Independent
Annarbor.com
AOL News
Austin Bulldog
Bay Citizen
Big Money
California Watch
Capital Times
Center for Investigative Reporting
Center for Public Integrity
CNSNews.com
Connecticut Mirror
Crosscut Public Media
Daily Beast
Daily Caller
Gawker
Global Post
Honolulu Civil Beat
Huffington Post
Investigate West
Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
MinnPost.com
New Haven Independent
New River Voice
ProPublica
The Root
Salon Media
Salon.com
Seattle PostGlobe
SeattlePI.com
SF Public Press
Slate
Spot.Us
St. Louis Beacon
Talking Points Memo
Texas Tribune
Texas Watchdog
Tucson Citizen
TucsonSentinel.com
Voice of San Diego
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Yahoo! News