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THE COLUMBIA SUMMER PROGRAM GRADUATES:
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Paper presented to the Minorities and Communication Division
2006 AEJMC Convention
San Francisco, CA
Mary Alice Basconi
112 Heather Lane
Johnson City, TN 37601
(423) 929-2081
[log in to unmask]
Mary Alice Basconi is a May 2006 graduate from the Master's in
Professional Communication program at East Tennessee State
University.
ABSTRACT: Graduates of Columbia School of Journalism's summer
program for minority journalists have achieved prominence in
news media, yet little is known about them as a group. This
survey of 52 percent of the graduates (N=110) showed
respondents averaged 17.6 years in journalism. Thirty percent
spent thirty years or more in news, and nearly 24 percent had
worked in the ethnic press. The program, created by broadcast
pioneer Fred W. Friendly, operated from 1968 to 1974.
INTRODUCTION
In July 1968, twenty aspiring news people arrived at
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for an eight-
week broadcast journalism training program, the brainchild of
broadcast professor Fred W. Friendly. These students seventeen
black and three Hispanic represented an early attempt to
diversify an industry that had long resisted integration. Over
the years the program would add a print track, undergo staff and
name changes, and expand to eleven weeks.[1] By the time it
closed after seven years in New York City, what came
to be known as the Summer Program had certified 223 graduates
who either returned to sponsoring employers ready for journalism
work, or entered new journalism jobs. As Earl Caldwell, a
director of the program's 1972 print section, noted:
You're talking about a program that has its fingerprints
on so many careers . . . the way they became
ambassadors, really, for journalism, role models for the
black journalists. They had a tremendous impact.[2]
When its sustaining grant from the Ford Foundation ended
in 1974,[3] the Summer Program could claim graduates at the
three network flagship stations in New York City. They also
worked at television and radio stations in Los Angeles, Chicago,
Cleveland, Washington, Atlanta, Fort Worth, Little Rock, Jackson,
MS, and other cities. Their bylines appeared in the New
York Times, Washington Post, Milwaukee Journal, Louisville
Courier, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Petersburg Times, Atlanta
Constitution, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Minneapolis Star, Boston
Globe, and other papers.[4]
Graduates of the program became life-long news people,
eventually pursued careers elsewhere, or left journalism soon
after they began, yet little has been written about them as a
group.[5] To address that need, from August 2004 to January 2005
the researcher conducted a quantitative and qualitative study of
the program through telephone interviews with 110 graduates 52
percent of the available population of 211. This paper, part of
a larger study, offers a composite profile of respondents: their
time in mainstream media and ethnic press, their first
promotions, and their later promotions to management positions.
The work of the Institute for Journalism Education, the
Newspaper Association of America, McGill, and others suggested
that lack of opportunities for advancement prompted minority
journalists to want to leave the field. This study examines the
degree to which that held true for responding Columbia Summer
Program participants, interviewed thirty years or more after
graduation. It measures career longevity differences between
graduates with prior news experience and those without. Finally,
it looks at why some left journalism.
Newsroom diversity remains an issue despite gains made
since the 1960s. Noted African-American journalist Robert C.
Maynard a director of the print course in the Columbia Summer
Program in 1972 and 1973[6] bluntly told newspaper leaders:
"We will not let you off the hook. You must desegregate this
business."[7] That was 1978, the year the American Society of
Newspaper Editors set a year 2000 deadline for parity between
the non-white newsroom presence and that of the general
population. Then, people of color comprised less than 4 percent
of the newspaper workforce and 17 percent of the U.S.
population.[8] Eleven years earlier the Kerner Report found that
blacks held 5 percent of editorial jobs in the news business and
comprised less than 1 percent of editors or supervisors most
of whom worked for black-oriented media.[9]
While ASNE extended its parity goal to 2025, recent data
indicate a widening gap. From 2003 to 2004 the representation of
non-whites in newspaper journalism grew by half a percentage
point, to 13.42 percent, compared to 31.7 percent found in the
2004 U.S. population.[10] A 2005 report by the Knight Foundation
found that "among the 200 largest newspapers, 73 percent employ
fewer non-whites, as a share of the newsroom jobs, than they did
in some earlier year from 1990 to 2004."[11]
Did Columbia Summer Program graduates move beyond
integration to make a lasting impact on the media? This study
addresses that question by examining respondents' collective
experiences as journalists.
BACKGROUND
Bonner has noted that "it took the rage and violence of
urban disorders in the 1960s for African Americans to gain a
noticeable presence in the pages and the newsrooms of daily
journalism."[12] To understand what caused the riots, President
Lyndon B. Johnson formed the National Advisory Commission on
Civil Disorders the Kerner Commission which in 1967 faulted
the news media for lapses in both hiring policies and coverage
of racial issues. The Kerner Report called for new employment
initiatives and promotion of black journalists to "positions of
significant responsibility;" it challenged educators to seek out
young people, "inspire them to become and then train them as
journalists.[13] In response, in 1968 Fred Friendly and his
Columbia colleagues assembled the Summer Program in Broadcast
Journalism for Members of Minority Groups.[14]
Grant money from the Ford Foundation, where Friendly
served as an adviser for television, provided students free
admission to the program. Various media organizations, notably
NBC and The CBS Foundation, made financial contributions.[15]
The program was selective. As Gary Gilson, then an adjunct
instructor at Columbia, recalled, "These spots were so precious
that you couldn't afford to bring anybody in who was not going
to take advantage of it and be able to deliver for their
employer and for themselves."[16] To choose the best students,
Gilson devised an "almost fool-proof" test:
I would send them into a room with a copy of a column
on the My Lai Massacre by William F. Buckley Jr. And I
said, "He's written this in 650 words. I want you to
re-write what he wrote in three hundred words." So now
I find out if they did their own typing or if their
uncle did it; I also find out if they have the
discipline to rewrite somebody else's stuff without
putting their own opinion in it. And then they come out,
tremendously relieved, after forty-five minutes, and I
send them right back in. And I say, "Now use Buckley's
column as a springboard to write your own opinion about
the issues he raises, and you don't have to limit
yourself to My Lai. You can write about anything you
want." Now I can find out whether they had the ability
to think independently.[17]
After the first group completed the course, the training
also came with a job. Program administrator Dick Kwartler
created a plan to match students with employers as they finished
the training, recalled Columbia journalism professor Melvin
Mencher, the first director of the print program.[18] Later
changes would bring black leadership to the faculty, and
eventually the idea of training students for journalism
management.[19] Because the program folded before any leadership
course could take shape, the Summer Program's legacy was a cadre
of 223 African-American, Latino, Asian-American and Native-
American graduates trained to report the news.
LITERATURE REVIEW
While no formal research has addressed the Columbia
Summer Program participants, Tefler's 1971 study followed
graduates from one of the many other minority journalism training
programs of the era the San Francisco Examiner internships that
also began in 1968.[20] Tefler found fourteen of the twenty-one
interns who completed this training had secured news media jobs;
nine of those, or about 40 percent, remained in the business
after three years.[21]
Statistical data on non-white journalists includes
research on career longevity, career expectations, and reasons
for leaving mainstream media.[22] Such research includes studies
specific to journalists of color, as well as studies addressing
journalists as a whole that allow comparisons between white and
non-white respondents.
Weaver and Wilhoit of Indiana University found people of
color averaged nine to eleven years in journalism in 1992,
compared to a mean fourteen years for non-minority
journalists.[23] By 2002 Weaver and his colleagues found minority
journalists spent a mean 12.7 years in mainstream news; all
journalists averaged 16.3 years, and non-Hispanic whites averaged
16.7 years.[24]
In Pease and Smith's 1991 Newsroom Barometer report, 18.5
percent of non-white working journalists said they expected to
leave newspapers within five years, compared with 14.3 percent of
white newspaper journalists surveyed.[25] McGill's meta-analysis
of thirteen retention studies conducted from 1989 to 2000
suggested between one-fifth and one-third of journalists of color
did not expect to stay in the newspaper business a rate much
higher than that of white journalists.[26] In one of those
studies, Tan's 1990 mail survey of 265 Asian-American broadcast
and print journalists, nearly 36 percent of respondents said
they were "likely" or "very likely" to leave in five years.
Those who left cited lack of advancement opportunities, need for
other challenges, better opportunities in another field, and
difficulties with management.[27] McGill also noted a California
study of Hispanic journalists in which 20 percent planned to
leave in ten years over lack of advancement opportunities and
the need for challenges.[28]
A 1985 IJE study of minority journalists hired between
1969 and 1979 found 13 percent of non-whites had left newspapers,
and 40 percent planned to leave, due to lack of advancement
opportunities. People of color departed at a rate three times
that of whites, and their rate of planned departures nearly doubled
that of whites.[29] Later, the Newspaper Association of America
Preserving Talent studies of 1995 and 2002 examined departures
from all newspaper departments. Lack of growth and development
opportunities figured prominently in these departures, with
black respondents reporting the highest levels of job
dissatisfaction.[30]
Race has not been the only factor associated with
dissatisfaction. In 1971 sociologist John W.C. Johnstone and his
colleagues surveyed 1,313 journalists, reporting that "it is
newsmen who come to the media with the strongest educational
backgrounds who are the ones most likely to become disenchanted
with what they find there."[31] The study found that 9.4 percent
of journalists aged 25 to 34 had no college, 26.6 percent had
some college education, and 64 percent held post-secondary
degrees.[32] Vernon Stone's 1991 study of television news people
of all ages found 14 percent had no college, 28 percent had some
college, and 58 percent had college degrees.[33]
Such research has several implications. First,
journalists of color, for whatever reason, have been at risk for
early departures. Second, circumstances surrounding the career
stories of these journalists would yield information useful in
recruitment, training, and retention. A third research finding,
from Johnstone's survey during the Summer Program era, suggests
highly educated journalists are susceptible to the discontent
that leads to departure.
METHODOLOGY
To locate participants the author cross-referenced lists
of Columbia Summer Program graduates, assembling a roster of 223.
Sources included an incomplete list from Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism, a list from the IJE, referrals
from members of minority journalist organizations who attended
UNITY 2004 in Washington, DC, and referrals from graduates
themselves. Whereabouts of graduates also were traced through
sponsoring media and through Internet search engines. Student
hometowns and sponsoring companies were found in press releases
in the Fred Friendly Papers at the Rare Book and Manuscript
Library, Columbia University. Annual program reports from
archives of the Ford Foundation provided additional information.
Twelve persons from the list died prior to the study, as
confirmed by the Social Security Death Index, thus reducing the
available population to 211.
Graduates received a letter outlining the project. To
reduce a response bias that may occur in self-report mail
surveys, the author used a phone questionnaire to address
backgrounds, first jobs, careers, and experiences at Columbia.
Interviews occurred between August 2004 and January 2005.
Respondents who left journalism for reasons other than
retirement were asked: "If you left the news business, it was
because (choose the ONE reason that best applies): I discovered
I was better suited for other work, salary issues, hours, little
chance for advancement, issues of race, other. Answers in the
"other" category, if volunteered by respondents, were coded.
Five open-ended questions produced narrative responses, and
participants had the opportunity to review and correct
quotations. The Statistical Program for the Social Sciences
analyzed data from thirty-one closed questions.
FINDINGS
Of the graduates, 110 agreed to an interview, forty-one
did not participate, and sixty could not be located. Respondents
seventy-three from the broadcast course and thirty-seven from
print represented 52.1 percent of the population alive at the
time of the study. The ratio of broadcast to print graduates
corresponded to that of the population. The program enrolled 153
broadcast students (68.6 percent), of whom seventy-three took
part in the survey (66.4 percent of respondents). Print students
numbered seventy in the program (31.4 percent), compared to
thirty-seven in the survey (33.6 percent).
Table 1 shows representation by class year. As Columbia
only accepted students with little or no experience, respondents
had a median age of 24 as they entered the program.
Table 1
Summer Program graduates by class compared with sample
1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
Popu-
lation 20 36 37 31 35 35 29
Sample 11 16 19 17 17 18 12
55% 44.4% 51.3% 54.8% 48.6% 51.4% 41.4%
Note. N=223 population, n=110 sample. Source for population:
Ford Foundation Archives.
When social group representation was analyzed (table 2),
Native Americans and Asian Americans the two smallest groups
in the Summer Program appeared at the highest rate in the
survey.
Table 2
Frequency of social groups in population compared with sample
Frequency, population Frequency, sample
Black
167 (79.1%) 82 (74.5%)
Hispanic 31 (14.6%) 16 (14.5%)
Asian American 9 (4.2%) 9 (8.2%)
Native American 4 (1.8%) 3 (2.7%)
Note. N= 211 for population, excluding twelve deceased; n=110
for sample. Source: Ford Foundation Archives.
While approximately half of the population had bachelor's
degrees,[34] the sample reflects a higher level of education:
sixty-six (60 percent) graduated from college and eight more
(7.3 percent) held post-graduate degrees. Thirty-five (31.8
percent) had some college. Of those who had been to college,
thirty-three respondents said they majored or minored in
broadcasting or journalism, and nine of those (27.3 percent)had
reporting experience.
The Summer Program aimed to place new faces in news
organizations, students described here as being "matched" to
employers. However, the program also offered training and skills
enhancement to working journalists "sent" by their employers. As
table 3 shows, no correlation appeared between sponsorship and
reporting experience. People who had not worked as reporters
represented a majority in both the "sent" and "matched" groups.
Table 3
Respondents with prior reporting experience/Matched or sent
No reporting experience Reporting experience
Matched to employers 50 (73.5%) 18 (26.5%)
Sent by employers 28 (66.7%) 14 (33.3%)
Note. N=110; x2 =.59; df=1; p=n.s. Those with no experience
included 14 recent graduates and 28 who held non-news positions
in newsrooms.
The largest group of respondents thirty-four, or 30.9
percent came to Columbia from jobs in sales, education,
government, and other non-news fields. Of the thirty-two with
reporting experience, seven respondents worked exclusively for black
papers: the Milwaukee Courier, the Atlanta Daily World, the San
Francisco Sun-Reporter, and Afro-American papers in Washington
and New Jersey. One respondent edited a Native American tribal
paper, while another worked for black radio station WAOK in
Atlanta.
One survey question addressed whether respondents
received new positions in their first jobs after Columbia.
Forty-six (41.8 percent) said they received promotions new
beats or job titles in these first jobs. Broadcast graduates
were promoted at a rate of 45.2 percent, compared to 35.1
percent for print.
Job histories of respondents provided data on total years
in the business (table 4).
Table 4
Career longevity in mainstream news media
Years Frequency
1 or less 9 (8.2%)
Between 1 and 2 3 (2.7%)
2 or 3 8 (7.3%)
4 or 5 12 (10.9%)
6 or 7 6 (5.4%)
8 or 9 4 (3.6%)
10 to 14 9 (8.2%)
15 to 19 6 (5.4%)
20 to 24 11 (10.0%)
25 to 29 8 (7.3%)
30 to 34 29 (26.4%)
35+ 5 (4.5%)
Note. N=110.
Respondents staying thirty years or more included some
still in news media. The study showed graduates spent an average
17.6 years in mainstream news (standard deviation: 12.57), and a
median eighteen years. Fifty-three respondents (48.2 percent)
spent twenty years or more in mainstream news media. That
includes three part-time columnists or reporters, and ten who
worked on a freelance or contract basis. Excluding part-time,
freelance, and contract journalists, forty respondents said they
spent twenty years or more working fulltime in mainstream news
(36.3 percent).
Ana Thorne, formerly a special programs assistant for the
Seattle School District, said that in 1970 she struggled at her
matched position at station KOMO in Seattle. Although she
considered Columbia instructors and guest speakers "the best and
the brightest," Thorne said she felt unprepared for the newsroom
culture shock.[35] As she recalled:
I had the hardest time after I went back, being in an
environment of totally white people and feeling like the
other, the alien, and not any support in dealing with
those feelings and issues. I just did not belong there.
I had not been in a situation like that before.[36]
Thorne stayed four months; she now works as a grant writer for
non-profit organizations.
Thirty-four respondents (30.9 percent) remained reporters
throughout their journalism careers, however long those careers
might be. Twelve (10.9 percent) had been anchors; ten (9.1
percent)had been producers; nine (8.2 percent) had been an
assistant editor or assignment editor; and seven (6.4 percent)
held corporate jobs. Each of the following categories accounted
for three respondents (2.7 percent): news director, community
affairs director, weekend anchor, and copy editor. One or two
respondents worked in each of the following categories at some
point in their careers: managing editor, bureau chief, news
editor, editorial director, news writer, associate editor, deputy
managing editor, print section editor, production assistant or
other jobs both supervisory and non-supervisory. While table 5
indicates the rate at which Summer Program respondents became
managers or supervisors, it does not include broadcast anchors
who may have held management duties.
Table 5
Social group/Management or supervisory position, mainstream news
Supervisor Non-supervisor
African American 27 (32.9%) 55 (67.1%)
Asian American 2 (22.2%) 7 (77.8%)
Hispanic 3 (18.8%) 13 (81.3%)
Native American 0 3 (100%)
Note. N=110; x2=2.85; df=3, p=n.s.
Twenty-six respondents (23.6 percent) said they worked as
journalists in the ethnic press at some point after leaving
Columbia. Statistical comparisons of broadcast and print
graduates showed no significant difference in later participation
in ethnic media. Table 6 shows graduates in ethnic media at the
time of the study, or at the end of their careers. This included
part-time work, and at times occurred while respondents held
other full-time jobs. The inclusion of ethnic media raises the
mean time spent in news to 18.61 years (standard deviation:12.31)
and the median number of years to nineteen. Counting
work in ethnic media, thirty-seven respondents (33.6 percent)
said they spent thirty years or more in news after the Summer
Program.
Table 6
Graduates in print or broadcast/Last job held in ethnic media
No Yes
Print 27 (73%) 10 (27%)
Broadcast 62 (84.9%) 11 (15.1%)
Note. N=110; x2=2.27; df=1; p=n.s.
An observation by one Summer Program graduate illustrates
how ethnic media may be viewed as a community's dominant news
source. Isabel Bahamonde, a graduate from the last class at
Columbia, said the term "mainstream media" should encompass
ethnic media. She spent eight years in English-language news
media and twelve years in Spanish-language media, and noted how
Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univisiσn and their
hundreds of affiliates consistently earn higher ratings in the
South Florida market when compared with their English-language
counterparts.[37]
Helen Blue, a member of the class of 1972, did her first
reporting work after being matched to the Philadelphia Daily
News. Now editor of the Philadelphia New Observer, Blue explained
why she has embraced the black press:
It was almost like you couldn't have skills and work for
the African-American press. I did, and people began to
really appreciate my work. A lot of things that were
going on in the African-American community were not
getting covered in the mainstream press, and they were
not covering [community events] like I was covering them.
I got my reputation in the African-American press. Now
I'm a committed advocate: I go out and speak on the
importance of telling our own stories, all the time.
It's important to support the African-American press.
If we weren't there, we'd be really missed.[38]
Statistical analysis for the comparisons on career
length showed a slight positive association between employer
sponsorship (those "sent" to Columbia) and time spent in
journalism (table 7). The findings were significant at the .024
level.
Table 7
Matched or sent/20 years+ in mainstream media
< 20 years 20 years+
Matched 41 (60.3%) 27 (39.7%)
Sent 16 (38.1%) 26 (61.9%)
Note. N=110; x2=5.12; df=1; p<.05.
The Louisville Courier-Journal sent staff artist Merv
Aubespin to Columbia in 1972. Aubespin said the experience
changed his life: he went from reporter to associate editor for
development at the newspaper. He also served as president of the
National Association of Black Journalists from 1983 to 1985. "It
apparently did a good job because I lasted thirty-five years in
the business,"[39] Aubespin said.
Sixty-one respondents answered the question on why they
left news media, other than for retirement; of those, twenty-nine
(47.5 percent) cited reasons not provided in the questionnaire.
Analysis of those reasons appears in table 8. Four chose "little
chance for advancement," the reason cited in previous research.
Table 8
Career departure reasons
Frequency
Better Suited for other work 13 (21.3%)
Issues of Race 7 (11.5%)
Wanted to do Something Else 6 (9.8%)
Other 6 (9.8%)
+1 Reason 6 (9.8%)
Little Chance of Advancement 4 (6.6%)
Marriage/Family 4 (6.6%)
Changes in Industry 4 (6.6%)
Buyout 4 (6.6%)
Entered Journalism Education 2 (3.3%)
Hours 2 (3.3%)
Changes in Media Management 2 (3.3%)
Financial Reasons 1 (1.6%)
Note. n=61.
Two who left news media to teach journalism were counted
as departures, while a third respondent worked as a journalist
while teaching at a university. Those who cited changes in
management and in the industry said they left because of
television consultants hired to boost ratings by changing
newscast formats.[40]
Harvey Clark attended the program in 1974 as a broadcast
student. He described how he left journalism for public relations
work after new management took over Philadelphia station WCAU:
I did not have the same point of view about what news
was, and what news was not, from the new general manager.
We did not come to terms and my contract was terminated.
I was 47 at the time. I elected to not go to another
city. I had been in Philadelphia for a hell of a lot
longer than I thought I'd be there. But by that time I
was very comfortable there, very well known there and
very successful there. Rather than relocate to another
city and stay in the journalism business, I left.[41]
Monica (Kaufman) Pearson, longtime anchor at Atlanta
station WSB and a student in the 1969 program, offered historical
context on why some early graduates found it difficult to stay,
despite the need. She said in newsrooms of that era, people
whose training was backed up by a college degree found more
acceptance than those with lesser educational qualifications:[42]
[I]t's another thing when you're a person of color and
maybe you don't have a degree or maybe your degree has
nothing to do with what you're being trained to do, and
people are expected to take you seriously. It's like you
haven't earned your chops. I think Columbia probably
thought the stations and the newspapers would be so
happy to have these people. And I think most of them
were. But I also think there was a lot of resistance
because they felt it was being pushed down their throats.
But if you look at the time period this was after the
riots of the sixties many white reporters could not go
into riot-torn black areas of the city, because they were
seen as being the enemy. Now, a good reporter it
doesn't matter what a person's color is. You're going to
tell both sides of the story, you're going to be fair.
But the black people in those areas felt like that black
reporter had more empathy and sympathy and would tell the
story better.[43]
Maureen Bunyan, of Washington, DC station WJLA, said
that while the 1970 Summer Program provided valuable criticism,
competition, and camaraderie, students were not prepared for
newsroom politics, policies, and "how they're supposed to be
treated" on the job.[44] She added:
Of course, we all expected there were going to be
problems, but we really weren't taught how to maneuver
through these problems because this had never happened
before. Minorities and women had never gone into newsrooms
before so even the very progressive and liberal white
institutions like Columbia and the Ford Foundation . . .
they didn't know how to tell us what to do, what signs to
watch out for, how to maneuver through race or gender
issues. So we all sort of learned on the job. When our
ranks got large enough we formed organizations.[45]
Graduates in later years said such topics were addressed
by minority-journalist instructors who knew what to expect.
Milton Coleman, from the 1974 class, is deputy managing editor of
the Washington Post and former chair of the ASNE diversity
committee. As he recalled:
The Summer Program was critical for me. As a result of
the people to whom I was exposed, I came to the newsroom
feeling I could own that place. It was the epitome of
what Bob Maynard called armor-building. Not only was the
burden of the race upon your shoulders . . . if you
didn't go in and kick a**, as David Early said, you let
the program down.[46]
Graduates participating in the study include many whose
names were accessible by Internet searches, thus creating a
possible response bias toward those who held higher-profile
positions. Nonetheless, respondents included both news media and
non-media workers. Those still in media included executives, a
CBS News correspondent, public-affairs directors, editors,
producers, and one television and film actor. Others were in
education, public relations and marketing, advocacy groups,
social service agencies and other fields. One became an ordained
minister. Some who left news jobs before reaching retirement age
said they had fallen victim to industry cutbacks and took buyout
offers from management.[47]
DISCUSSION
Even though the Columbia Summer Program graduates entered
the field at a time when few organizations would take on a person
of color, those surveyed not only became journalists, stayed in
the business longer than the average journalist, but continued to
have an impact on mainstream news media thirty years later. More
than 30 percent made journalism their sole career. Such findings
are even more remarkable considering that the training lasted
less than three months.
As a group, those who took part in the survey averaged
17.6 years in mainstream news media higher than the Indiana
University average for journalists as a whole and higher than
that of journalists of color. Within the limits of the research,
such findings attest to the backgrounds and abilities of
respondents and to the quality of the Columbia training.
The study shows some students possessed the makings of
successful journalists when they entered the program. When
numbers for college graduates and those with more education were
combined, seventy-four respondents (67 percent) held at least a
bachelor's degree higher than the averages for journalists of
the era as reported by both Johnstone and Stone, and higher than
the estimated 50 percent for the Summer Program population. But
would they have secured the jobs they wanted without assistance?
In the period from 1968 to 1974, in view of the media's feeble
efforts to diversify news staffs, it is unlikely 223 people of
color would have broken down employment and promotion barriers
in the absence of help. Moreover, would they have stayed as long
in the news business without the Columbia training? Johnstone's
finding that higher education associated with dissatisfaction
suggests otherwise. The longer-than-average commitment to
journalism is especially noteworthy considering the number of
respondents who came to Columbia with no prior reporting
experience.
Respondents clearly defied the odds in view of research
(Weaver and Wilhoit, Pease and Smith, McGill) showing people of
color less inclined to make journalism their life-long vocation.
One explanation is that respondents left Columbia determined to
succeed, fueled by the objectives of the civil rights movement
and the formation they shared in the Summer Program. Their
influence on the news media continues to this day.
END NOTES
[1] Fred Knubel, Director, Office of Public Information, Columbia
University, press release, March 27, 1972; Graduate School of
Journalism, Reports to the Ford Foundation, 1968 1974,
PA680-0673, Ford Foundation Archives. Originally the Summer
Program in Broadcast Journalism for Members of Minority Groups,
the title changed in 1969 to reflect a track for print
journalists. From 1971 to 1972 it was called the Summer Program
in Journalism for Members of Minority Groups. In 1973 it became
the Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists,
honoring a 1970 graduate and CBS correspondent who died in a
1972 plane crash. The "Columbia Summer Program" or "Summer
Program" are used here for consistency.
[2] Earl Caldwell (Scripps Howard endowed professor, Scripps
Howard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Hampton
University), interview with the author, 8 April 2004.
[3] Harold Howe II to Michell Sviridoff and Fred Friendly,
Ford Foundation, 1 June 1973, PA680-0673, Ford Foundation
Archives. The Ford Foundation had attributed its cutback to the
failure of media companies to absorb a greater share of the costs.
[4] Graduation Michele Clark Fellows, August 16, 1974, Fred
Friendly Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia
University. The list came from what appeared to be Friendly's
prepared text for the final graduation.
[5] Lee Thornton, "Broadcast News," in Split Image: African-
Americans in the Mass Media, eds. Jannette L. Dates and William
Barlow (Washington: Howard University Press, 1990), 393.
[6] Alice Carol Bonner, "Changing the Color of the News: Robert
Maynard and the Desegregation of Daily Newspapers," (PhD diss.,
University of North Carolina, 1999), 229, 284. Maynard
co-directed at Columbia with African-American journalists and New
York Times reporters Earl Caldwell in 1972 and Charlayne Hunter-
Gault in 1973. He was the force behind the program's revival at
the University of California, Berkeley, in 1976. While the
broadcast track did not continue in California, the Summer
Program for print journalism evolved into the Robert C. Maynard
Institute for Journalism Education.
[7] "Newspapers Urged to Hire More Minority Journalists,"
Washington Post, April 8,1978, A5.
[8] James B. King, "Minorities: From Now Till 2000 A.D.,"
Bulletin of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, no. 615
(May/June 1978): 11; Jay T. Harris, Minority Employment in Daily
Newspapers (Evanston, IL: Frank E. Gannett Urban Journalism
Center, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University)
1978, I-2.
[9] The Kerner Report on the National Advisory Commission on
Civil Disorders (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1968), 384-385. The
commission found only one black author of a nationally syndicated
column in mainstream media.
[10] "News Staffs Shrinking While Minority Presence Grows," news
release, American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 15, 2005,
http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=5648 (accessed 17 May 2005).
ASNE reported that "newsrooms have lost a net of more than 2,200
journalists while the number of minority journalists has
increased."
[11] Bill Dedman and Stephen K. Doig, "Newsroom Diversity has
Passed its Peak at Most Newspapers, 1990-2005 Study Showed,"
Report Summary, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, June 1,
2005, http://powerreporting.com/knight/ (accessed 15 September,
2005). The study analyzed ASNE surveys of member newspapers,
which counted the number of non-white newsroom supervisors,
reporters, copy/layout editors, and photographers.
[12] Bonner, "Changing the Color," 38, 58. Black journalists
entered newsrooms in the 1950s, yet not in significant numbers.
[13] Kerner Report, 385.
[14] Fred W. Friendly, Remarks Prepared for Delivery at the
Memorial Service for Michele Clark, Rockefeller Chapel,
University of Chicago, 17 December 1972, Fred Friendly Papers.
[15] Gerald Astor, Minorities and the Media, (New York: Ford
Foundation, November 1974), 7.
[16] Gary Gilson (executive director, Minnesota News Council),
interview with the author, 1 November 2004.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Melvin Mencher (professor emeritus, Columbia University),
interview with the author, 30 March 2004.
[19] Bryant Rollins (president, Mountaintop Institute, former
administrator of the Summer Program), interview with the author,
9 February 2005.
[20] Judie Tefler, Training Minority Journalists: A Case Study
of the San Francisco Examiner Intern Program (Berkeley, CA:
Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California,
Berkeley, 1973), 20.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Based on anecdotal evidence from respondents, Summer
Program graduates participated in some of these studies.
[23] David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American
Journalist in the 1990s: U.S. News People at the End of an Era
(Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996), 12.
[24] David H. Weaver, e-mail message to author, June 6, 2005. The
12.7 years for minority journalists came from the unpublished
2002 American Journalist Survey main random sample combined with
samples from the four main minority journalism associations,
while the 16.7 years for non-Hispanic whites came from the main
random sample.
[25] Ted Pease and J. Frazier Smith, The Newsroom Barometer: Job
Satisfaction and the Impact of Racial Diversity at U.S. Daily
Newspapers, The Ohio Journalism Monograph Series, no. 1: July
1991 (Ohio University: Bush Research Center of the E.W. Scripps
School of Journalism), 15.
[26] Lawrence T. McGill, What Research Tells Us about Retaining
Newspaper Journalists of Color: A Meta-analysis of 13 Studies
Conducted from 1989 to 2000 (Reston, VA: American Society of
Newspaper Editors, September 4, 2001),
http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=1477 (accessed 26 January 2005).
[27 ] Alexis Tan, "Why Asian American Journalists Leave
Journalism and Why They Stay," paper presented to the national
convention of the Asian American Journalists Association, New
York, NY, August 23, 1990, 3.
[28] California Chicano News Media Association and the Center
for the Integration and Improvement of Journalism, "Latinos in
California's News Media: A Status Report" (paper, California
Chicano News Media Association State Conference, September 21,
1990), 2.
[29] Ellis Cose, The Quiet Crisis: Minority Journalists and
Newsroom Opportunity, Executive Summary, in Minorities Research
(San Francisco: Associated Press Managing Editors, Minority
Research Committee, October 1985). The survey, conducted by the
Institute for Journalism Education, sampled 204 respondents, of
whom twenty-nine were senior managers.
[30] Newspaper Association of America, Preserving Talent Part II,
summarized findings, 2-3 (Vienna, VA: Newspaper Association of
America, 2002) http://www.naa.org/diversity/preservingtalent2.pdf
(accessed 15 March 2005).
[31] John W.C. Johnstone, Edward J. Slawski, and William W.
Bowman, The News People: A Sociological Portrait of American
Journalists and Their Work (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois
Press, 1976), 152.
[32] Ibid., 200.
[33] Vernon Stone, "Television Newspeople, Moving On," Television
and Radio News Research, (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri,
2000) http://www.missouri.edu/~jourvs/tvers.html (accessed 21
April 2005). The mail survey drew 1,781 participants, for a
response rate of 36 percent.
[34] Graduation Michele Clark Fellows.
[35] Ana Thorne, interview with the author, 6 December 2004.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Isabel Bahamonde, e-mail message to author, 11 February
2005.
[38] Helen Blue, interview with the author, 14 October 2004.
[39] Mervin R. Aubespin, interview with the author, 7 October
2004.
[40] Interviews with Summer Program participants, 2004-2005.
[41] Harvey Clark, interview with the author, 16 December 2004.
[42] Monica (Kaufman) Pearson, interview with the author, 21
September 2004.
[43] Ibid.
[44] Maureen Bunyan, interview with the author, 12 November 2004.
Bunyan was a founding member of the NABJ and the International
Women's Media Foundation.
[45] Ibid.
[46] Milton Coleman, interview with the author, 12 November 2004.
Early, a 1973 graduate, is race and demographics editor for the
San Jose Mercury News.
[47] The following respondents granted informed consent to have
their names published; others did not wish to be listed. Titles
reflect employment status at the time of the study.
(Broadcast)
Class of 1968: Bill Deiz, communications director, Oregon
Partnership; Antony L. Mahn, coordinating producer, Inside
Trenton, WNET, New York; Claude Matthews Jr., attorney, freelance
producer/editor, Washington, DC; Louis Morton, public relations,
Los Angeles; Bob Nicholas, corporate president, Nicholas Earth
Printing, Houston; Bob Reid, executive vice president and general
manager, the Africa Channel; John Sablσn, reporter, WVIT, Hartford,
CT.
Class of 1969: J.J. Gonzales,retired managing editor, Univisiσn
Channel 41, New Jersey; Ardie Ivie Jr. (deceased), marketing/
education consultant, University of California, Los Angeles;
Karl Nurse, communications firm owner, Boston; John Raye,
entrepreneur, Kernersville, NC; Dennis Richmond, anchor, KTVU,
San Francisco.
Class of 1970: Maureen Bunyan, anchor, WJLA, Washington, DC;
Henrietta Johnson Burroughs, founder and editor, East Palo Alto
Today, host of cable television program "Talking With Henrietta;"
Christopher Chow, political media consultant to California Asian
American legislators and director, Richmond Village Beacon Center
(an after-school program in San Francisco); Ysabel
Duron, reporter, KRON, San Francisco; Arthur France, retired
professor, broadcast and communication arts, San Francisco State
University; Sherman Jackson, consultant, Noticias, NY1, New York;
Andrew Reynolds, executive vice president, Executive Diversity
Services, Seattle; Ana Thorne, grant writer, non-profit
organizations; Jacqueline Hendricks Threadgill, assistant to the
president, National Medical Association, Washington, DC.
Class of 1971: Ron Canada, television and film actor, Los
Angeles; Lorraine Edmo, executive director, National Fund for
Excellence in American Indian Education; Tanna Beebe Chattin,
Bureau of Indian Affairs; Myron Lowery, public relations for
Federal Express, Memphis City Council member; Rosa E. Morales,
director, Hispanics in Journalism and Minorities in Journalism
programs, Michigan State University; Joe Olvera, deputy director
for drug prevention services, Aliviane, Inc., freelance newspaper
columnist, El Paso; Royal Kennedy Rodgers, independent
documentary producer; Richard Saiz, program manager, Independent
Television Service, San Francisco; Donald Savage (deceased),
former photographer/columnist, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
newspaper; Robert N. Warfield, owner, Alpha Partners (a Detroit
investment firm).
Class of 1972: Rochelle Brown, community affairs director and
executive producer, "Insights," FOX 4, Dallas; Francine Cheeks,
director of communications, American Friends Service Committee;
Felicia Lowe, documentary producer, San Francisco; Hilda Tula
Gourdin, marketing/public relations, Sausalito, CA; Willie
Monroe, reporter/anchor, KGO, San Francisco; John Milton Wesley,
writer, Columbia, MD.
Class of 1973: Verna Edmonds, retired public information
officer, state of Pennsylvania; Alan Peters, researcher, Chicago
Tribune; Randall Pinkston, correspondent, CBS News, New York;
Martha J. Thomas, playwright, retired assistant vice president
for community/government relations, State University of New York;
Johnathan Rodgers, chief executive,TV One cable network; Josι
Santiago, news director, Pacifica radio station WBAI, New York;
Ianthia Hall-Smith, public relations, San Francisco; Will Wright,
general manager, VOOM HD News.
Class of 1974: Isabel Bahamonde, freelance journalist, Florida;
Harvey Clark, retired vice president, marketing/corporate
communications, Philadelphia Gas Works; Dean Toji, assistant
professor, Asian and Asian American Studies, California State
University, Long Beach; Ben Wong, senior writer for morning
news, KGO, San Francisco.
(Print)
Class of 1969: Monica (Kaufman) Pearson, anchor, WSB, Atlanta;
Edgar Henry, retired automotive editor, Kiplinger's Personal
Finance; Angela Terrell, freelance editor and writer, Columbia,
MD; Owen Wilkerson, legislative analyst/speechwriter, Newark
Municipal Council; Henri Wittenberg, retired staff writer,
Detroit News.
Class of 1970: Fletcher Clarke, senior copy editor, Louisville
Courier-Journal; Alfonso Donaldson, retired assistant city
editor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Joe Oglesby, associate editorial
page editor, Miami Herald; Lurma Rackley, public relations
director, CARE USA; Nathaniel Sheppard Jr., retired correspondent,
Chicago Tribune.
Class of 1972: Mervin Aubespin,
consultant/retired associate editor for development, Louisville
Courier-Journal; Helen Blue, editor, Philadelphia New Observer;
Alice Bonner, assistant professor, Philip Merrill College of
Journalism, University of Maryland; Sandra C. Dillard, retired
reporter, Denver Post.
Class of 1973: Dale Bennett, educator, Winston-Salem, NC; Roger
Clendening, advertising/public relations, St. Petersburg, FL;
David Early, race and demographics editor, San Jose Mercury News;
Kevin Dilworth, reporter, The Star-Ledger, Newark.
Class of 1974: Chauncey Bailey, retired reporter, Oakland Tribune;
Karlynn Carrington, bank industry analyst; Milton Coleman, deputy
managing editor, Washington Post; M. Alexis Scott Reeves,
publisher, Atlanta Daily World; David Tong, assistant business
editor, San Francisco Chronicle.
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