Newsroom workforce diversity statistics show a persistent gap between journalism employees and the broader U.S. workforce, especially in racial representation. The available measures also show important differences by medium, age, gender, leadership role and journalists’ own assessment of their organizations. The figures below identify the geography and measurement period for each source, because they combine historical American Community Survey analysis, a 2022 journalist survey, a 2023 television survey reported in 2024 and a 2024 federal occupation table.
Contents
- Racial and gender composition
- Age patterns
- Newspaper, television and radio benchmarks
- Television workforce and leadership
- How journalists assess diversity
- Fair treatment, priorities and training
Racial and gender composition
Pew Research Center’s analysis of 2012–2016 American Community Survey data found that non-Hispanic white employees made up 77% of U.S. newsroom employees. In the same comparison, non-Hispanic white workers represented 65% of all U.S. workers. The newsroom measure covered reporters, editors, photographers and videographers working in newspaper, broadcasting and internet publishing industries. These are U.S. estimates for 2012–2016, not a current census of every newsroom.
The gender gap was also wider in newsrooms than across the full workforce. Men accounted for 61% of newsroom employees in the Pew analysis, compared with 53% of U.S. workers across all occupations and industries. Non-Hispanic white men represented 48% of newsroom employees, while they represented 34% of workers overall in the comparison.
| Measure | U.S. newsroom employees | U.S. workers overall | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-Hispanic white share | 77% | 65% | 2012–2016 |
| Men’s share | 61% | 53% | 2012–2016 |
| Non-Hispanic white men’s share | 48% | 34% | 2012–2016 |
Source: Pew Research Center, “Newsroom employees are less diverse than U.S. workers overall”.
A newer, narrower federal measure provides a different reference point. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 73,000 U.S. news analysts, reporters and journalists in its 2024 annual-average occupation table. Women were 48.0% of that occupation, while white workers were 62.6% and Black or African American workers were 16.3%. The BLS occupation is broader than a newsroom-only headcount, so it should not be treated as a direct replacement for the Pew newsroom estimate.
Source: BLS, “Employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity”, 2024 annual averages.
Age patterns
Age changes the shape of the newsroom diversity gap. In Pew’s 2012–2016 analysis, newsroom employees ages 18 to 29 were 51% men. That was the same male share as workers overall in the same age group. The difference became more pronounced among older employees: about two-thirds of newsroom employees ages 30 and older were men, compared with a little over half of workers overall.
The racial and gender composition of younger newsroom employees also differed from the wider workforce. Non-Hispanic white men were 38% of newsroom employees ages 18 to 29, compared with 30% of workers overall in that age group. Among newsroom employees ages 50 and older, the newsroom workforce was 17 percentage points more likely to be white men than all workers in the same age group. For employees ages 30 to 49, the corresponding difference was 15 percentage points.
These comparisons describe composition, not career progression. They do not establish why the shares differ, whether employees entered or left the industry at different rates, or how individual organizations compare with the national estimates. They do show that the historical gap was not uniform across age groups: the gender difference was smaller among the youngest employees and wider among older newsroom employees.
The 2022 Pew journalist survey adds perceptions by age, but it measures opinions rather than headcounts. Sixty-eight percent of journalists ages 18 to 29 said their organization lacked enough racial and ethnic diversity. The share was 57% among journalists ages 30 to 49, 48% among those ages 50 to 64 and 37% among journalists ages 65 and older. The age pattern in these responses runs in the same direction as the workforce-composition comparisons: younger journalists were more likely to report insufficient racial and ethnic diversity.
Source for the age comparisons and survey responses: Pew Research Center for 2012–2016 workforce analysis and Pew Research Center’s 2022 journalist survey for reported assessments.
Newspaper, television and radio benchmarks
Historical industry surveys show that diversity levels varied by news medium. American Society of News Editors surveys estimated that newspaper employees were 87% to 88% white during 2012–2015. The same surveys estimated that newspaper employees were 63% to 64% male and that white men were 56% to 57% of newspaper employees.
RTDNA surveys estimated that television newsroom staff were 77% to 79% white during 2012–2016. Television staff were estimated to be 56% to 60% male in that period. Radio newsroom staff had higher estimated white shares, at 87% to 91%, and male shares of 61% to 69%.
| News medium | White share | Male share | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newspapers | 87%–88% | 63%–64% | 2012–2015 |
| Television newsrooms | 77%–79% | 56%–60% | 2012–2016 |
| Radio newsrooms | 87%–91% | 61%–69% | 2012–2016 |
The newspaper white-men estimate was 56% to 57% during 2012–2015. That measure combines race and gender and therefore cannot be inferred by subtracting the separate white and male ranges. The ranges are estimates from industry surveys, not a single harmonized count across newspapers, television and radio.
Source: Pew Research Center’s comparison of newsroom and U.S. workforce diversity, citing American Society of News Editors and RTDNA survey estimates.
Television workforce and leadership
The latest television-specific figures in the supplied sources come from RTDNA/Newhouse’s 2023 survey, reported in 2024. Minority employees were 25.7% of the TV news workforce. At non-Hispanic TV stations, minority employees were 24.5% of the workforce. These figures refer to television news survey categories and should not be merged with the broader BLS occupation count.
Women were 44.4% of the TV news workforce and 41.8% of TV news directors in the 2023 survey. The leadership figure is lower than the overall workforce figure, although the two percentages describe different roles within the same survey. A workforce share alone therefore does not describe representation in decision-making positions.
The survey also reported different gender balances within racial and ethnic employee categories. Women were 52.0% of Hispanic TV news employees, compared with 48.0% men. Women were 54.6% of African American TV news employees, compared with 45.4% men. Men were 54.7% of Native American TV news employees, compared with 45.3% women.
Among Caucasian TV news employees, men were 58.9% and women 41.1%. Among Asian American TV news employees, women were 61.1% and men 38.9%. These category-specific percentages describe gender composition within each named group; they are not the percentage of the total television workforce represented by each group.
Source: RTDNA, “TV news diversity declines”, 2023 survey reported in 2024.
How journalists assess diversity
Pew’s 2022 survey asked journalists how much diversity their own organizations had. These answers are perceptions from journalists, not an independent census of newsroom demographics. The strongest positive assessment in the supplied figures concerned gender: 67% said their organization had enough gender diversity, while 19% said it did not.
Age diversity received a lower positive assessment. Fifty-eight percent said their workplace had enough age diversity, and 25% said it did not. For diversity by sexual orientation, 43% said their employer had enough diversity and 23% said it did not; 31% were unsure.
Political ideology and socioeconomic diversity each received a 34% “enough” response. Twenty-nine percent were unsure whether their workplace had enough socioeconomic diversity. These results indicate that the way diversity is defined matters: journalists’ assessments differ by dimension, and uncertainty is substantial for at least some categories.
Racial and ethnic diversity received the lowest positive assessment among the listed measures. Thirty-two percent of journalists said their organization had enough racial and ethnic diversity, while 52% said it did not. The response also differed by gender: 59% of women journalists said their newsroom lacked sufficient racial and ethnic diversity, compared with 46% of men.
Source: Pew Research Center, “U.S. journalists say newsrooms lack racial diversity, mixed views on other diversity issues”, 2022 survey.
Fair treatment, priorities and training
Perceived representation and perceived treatment are related but separate measures. In the 2022 Pew journalist survey, 66% said colleagues were generally treated fairly regardless of race and ethnicity. Sixty-seven percent said colleagues were generally treated fairly regardless of age, and 69% said colleagues were generally treated fairly regardless of gender.
At the organizational level, 42% of journalists said diversity and inclusion was a major priority. Thirty percent characterized it as a minor priority, while 16% said it was not a priority at all. The responses leave a measurable difference between acknowledging fair treatment and assigning diversity and inclusion a major organizational priority.
Workplace activity was also mixed. Forty-eight percent of journalists participated in formal workplace diversity training or meetings during the 12 months before the 2022 survey. Separately, 46% discussed diversity with colleagues at least several times a month during the year before the survey. These figures refer to participation and discussion, not to the effectiveness of training or the demographic outcome of those activities.
The survey included a substantial freelance and self-employed segment: 28% of journalists identified as freelancers or self-employed. That composition matters when interpreting organization-level questions, because not every respondent necessarily worked in a conventional staff newsroom. Pew’s results should therefore be read as journalists’ reported experiences across the surveyed population rather than as a direct workforce census.
Taken together, the statistics describe several different dimensions of newsroom workforce diversity: who is employed, how representation differs across media and roles, how age relates to composition and perception, and how journalists evaluate fairness and organizational priorities. The sources use different definitions and periods, so comparisons are most reliable when each percentage is kept with its original population, geography and measurement date.