WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is relieved by the apparent stem in the decline of Latino journalists and journalists of color working at our nation's local broadcast stations, according to the annual newsroom survey released today by the Radio and Television News Directors Association.

This year's RTNDA survey found that overall the percentage of journalists of color increased from 20.6 percent in 2002 to 21.8 percent in 2003. The percentage increased from 17 percent to 19.8 percent when Spanish-language stations were not included.

African Americans and Hispanics accounted for all the growth for minorities working at English-language television stations. The percentage of Hispanics climbed from 5.2 percent to 6.6 percent and for African Americans, 8.4 percent to 10.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Asian Americans journalists declined from 2.7 percent to 2.2 percent and remained unchanged for Native Americans at 0.5 percent.

The RTNDA study also noted several positive trends:

• The percentage of minority TV news directors working at English-language stations nearly doubled from 4.1 percent in 2002 to 8.1 percent in 2003.
  
  
• Minorities make up 55.6 percent of all general managers working at local independent TV stations (including Spanish-language stations).
  
  
• The percentage of minority news directors in radio increased from 5 percent to 8 percent, with Native Americans accounting for two-thirds of that growth.

• The overall percentage of minorities working at local TV stations remains virtually unchanged since 1990 when journalists of color made up 17.8 percent of all newsroom personnel.
  
  
• The growth in the percentage of journalists of color working in local radio was not the result of a hiring increase. Instead, the number of journalists of color appeared to have dropped slightly while the entire radio newsroom work force experienced an overall decrease.
  
  
• People of color made up only 3.9 percent of general managers working at network affiliated TV stations.

"While we are relieved that the industry has stemmed the decline of journalists of color, we still remain concerned with the lack of substantial increases in minority newsroom personnel since 1990," said NAHJ President Juan Gonzalez. "We are also alarmed by the decrease in the overall radio work force. It is clear that media companies are not investing in producing news for radio."

While the RTNDA study surveys local broadcast stations, NAHJ has for years called on the networks to provide the association and its UNITY partners their minority newsroom make up each year. But so far the networks have refused our requests.

NAHJ is currently working with media companies on its Parity Project to increase the presence and influence of Latino journalists in selected cities. The association recently received a $1 million grant from the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation to rapidly expand the program over the next three years. NAHJ is in discussions with several broadcast companies about partnering on the project.

Founded in 1984, NAHJ's mission is to increase the percentage of Latinos working in our nation's newsrooms and to improve news coverage of the country's Latino community. With more than 2,000 members, NAHJ is located in Washington, D.C.