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Study: Sports journalists mostly white men

Erin Sullivan
Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer

June 23, 2006

Sports reporters constantly scrutinize and point fingers. Why are there so few black coaches in the NFL? Why don't more Hispanic teens play high school sports? Why are sports, in general, often segregated by race or economics?

Now sports journalists are having fingers pointed at them. A study released Thursday by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at UCF said what many in the business already knew: most newspaper sports staffs are white and male.

"The results are going to be a wakeup call for a lot of newspapers around the country," said Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute and primary author of the study. He has done racial and gender report cards on pro and college athletics for two decades.

"I wasn't surprised by the results," said Glen Crevier, president of the Associated Press Sports Editors and assistant managing editor for sports at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I think they've been embarrassing in the past, and they remain embarrassing. Clearly, we have a lot of work to do."

The study was requested by the APSE -- a group representing newspapers in the United States and Canada. More than 5,100 people were involved in the study.

"The results are very dismal, but we at least have a baseline at which we can track our improvement," said John Cherwa, an editor in the Orlando Sentinel sports department and past president of APSE; he was chosen to lead the survey.

Cherwa said he was surprised at the low number of women -- 12.6 percent -- in sports departments. "I knew we were white-male dominated," he said, "but I didn't know it was this extreme."

White men and women comprised 88 percent of total staffs at the APSE newspapers. Blacks were 6.2 percent.

"This is just another example that proves how important it is to have a diverse staff covering news and sports in America,'' said Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists. " . . . Nine out of 10 sports reporters and editors are white, yet most of the pro and college athletes they cover are not. Isn't there just the slightest possibility of a disconnect here? It's no wonder we hear readers say we are often out of touch.''

The data was collected between March 6 and June 16 of this year. During that time:

There were five black male sports editors, out of 320 editors total. Fifteen editors were white women. There were no female black, Asian or Latin sports editors. Assistant sports editors were nearly 87 percent white.

Columnists, the most high-profile writing job, were nearly 90 percent white. Out of 298 columnists, there was one black female -- the Sentinel's Jemele Hill.

Of 2,128 reporters, nearly 80 percent were white males, and 8.4 percent were white females. Black males made up 6.6 percent, Latinos 2.7 percent and Asian men 1.1 percent.

Nearly 90 percent of copy editors and designers were white.

The support staff and clerks were the most diverse positions, with 24 percent being women.

"We're making some progress -- but slow progress," said Vicky Michaelis, president of The Association for Women in Sports Media and a reporter for USA Today.

Erin Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@orlandosentinel.com.