Minorities gain on local television news staffs.

The percentage of minorities working in local television news last year rose to the second-highest level ever, according to a survey released today by the Radio-Television News Directors Association. The percentage of minorities working in local radio news was down.

According to the 2006 RTNDA/Ball State University Annual Survey, minorities comprised 22.2 percent of local television news staffs in 2005, compared with 21.2 percent in 2004. At non-Hispanic stations, the minority workforce was 20.4 percent, also an increase over the previous year. In local radio, the minority workforce fell to 6.4 percent, down from 7.9 percent in 2004. (The highest level ever recorded was in 2001, when minorities held 24.6 percent of TV news jobs.)

The percentage of minority TV news directors was 13.2 percent, up from 12 percent the year before. In radio, the percentage of minority news directors was 4.4 percent.

The percentage of women in the television news workforce was 40 percent, up from 39.3 percent in 2004. The percentage of women news directors was 25.2 percent, up from 21.3 percent in 2004.

The percentage of women in radio news fell to 24.8 percent from 27.5 percent in 2004, while the percentage of women radio news directors dropped from 24.7 percent to 20.4 percent.

“The gains for minorities on local television news staffs should help stations better serve their increasingly diverse communities,” says Barbara Cochran, RTNDA president. “RTNDA is committed to assisting electronic newsrooms as they seek to reflect the communities they serve.”

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