NAHJ Calls For Dramatic Increases Of Latinos In Print & Broadcast Newsrooms.

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists called on the news industry this week to increase dramatically the employment of Latino journalists during the next five years. NAHJ unveiled plans to create several new NAHJ programs to spur that increase. NAHJ will seek to work with the news industry to double the percentage of Latinos employed by daily newspapers from the current 3.8 percent to 7.8 percent and to boost the percentage of Latinos working for local English- language television stations from the current 6.1 percent to 9.0 percent by 2008.

The programs are part of a five-year strategic plan for NAHJ that was adopted during a board meeting Oct. 18-19 in Washington, D.C. “NAHJ is sending a clear signal to the industry that we will no longer sit patiently while media companies increase the hiring of Latinos at a snail’s pace,” said NAHJ President Juan Gonzalez. “Rather, we will press the industry to speed up employment and promotion opportunities for Latino journalists and improve news coverage of the Latino community.”

The centerpiece of the plan is the Parity Project. This NAHJ program will identify cities with significant Latino populations where Latinos are underrepresented in the newsrooms of local media outlets. In those cities, NAHJ will offer to work jointly with existing print and broadcast media, area journalism schools, foundations and Latino community leaders to develop comprehensive model programs that will increase Latino newsroom presence and influence.

The five-year plan also calls for:

* Leadership and professional development: NAHJ will create a leadership institute for Latino journalists and will publish a Spanish-language style book in 2003. In 2004, the organization will launch a professional development program for Spanish-language media.

* Coverage of Latinos: NAHJ will work to create a system to monitor how media companies are covering Latinos and how changes in media ownership and government policies affect the quality of journalism coverage.

* Expand resources and diversify funding: NAHJ will diversify and increase funding from philanthropic foundations, its members and the Latino community in order to gain greater independence of action and financial stability.

For those interested in more details about the plan, a copy of the executive summary will be posted next week on the NAHJ Web site at http://www.nahj.org .

NAHJ, founded in 1984, is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. It has 1,700 members.