Newsroom employees rose last year, but minority numbers fell

Newsroom employees rose last year (only a tiny amount), halting a three-year decline, according to the American Society of News Editors. But minority staffers continued to lose numbers. "The number of professional journalists rose from an estimated 41,500 in 2009 to 41,600 in 2010," the group reported. Minority journalists declined from 5,500 to 5,300.

OK, it's not banner-headline great news, but it is important good news, except for the minority numbers. Those who want newspaper jobs can find them (I'm seeing that with MU journalism grads), but they have to hunt. In good news for minority journalism students, ASNE reported "Minorities represented 19 percent of the journalists hired for their first full-time newsroom job, up from 16 percent last year."