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06 December, 2010 04:31:00
MMTC wants to hear more minorities in
radio news
Minority
Media and Telecommunications Council
exec David Honig says that the employment
level of minority journalists in radio news
departments is far below the percentage of
minorities in the population as a whole, and
adds that they are almost non-existent at
non-minority-owned stations. He wants the
FCC to fix the problem.
Honig said that RTDNA figues place the
minority radio news force at 8.9% of the
total employed, compared to a total minority
population share of 34.4%. he added that
using RTDNA figures as a base, MMTC determined that minority
news employment at U.S. English
language, non-minority owned radio stations was statistically
almost zero.
Honig argued that casting a wide net is the key to building a
diversely-staffed news department, and said
that this wasnt happening as a rule. He wrote, The collapse of
minority employment in radio journalismis a result of word of mouth
recruitment from a homogeneous workforce. Relying on word of
mouth
recruitment is dangerous because the practice will allow
non-diverse workforces to consolidate and
replicate themselves over time. Word of an open position will
generally extend to employees usually
homogeneous family and social groups. If a workplace were
homogeneous to begin with, word of mouth
recruitment would reproduce and usually enhance the homogeneity.
However, if a workplace were
diverse, the practice would preserve that diversity.
He noted that promoting diversity has long been a Commission
goal, one that has been frequently
reaffirmed, but noted that little is being done to achieve the
goal.
In particular, Honig called for better enforcement of EEO
requirements, and hoped that the FCC wouldsoon be collecting better
and more comprehensive data once confidentiality hurdles regarding
its stalled
enhanced disclosure program for licensees are overcome. Further,
he wants the Commission to amend its
regulations to reflect suggestions made by its own Advisory
Committee for Diversity in the Digital Age
regarding the career paths and development of diverse job
candidates.
Honig made his remarks in the 12/6/10 edition of the
organizations newsletter Broadband and Social
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